Just One Of Those Days
by brandstifterin
Summary: It had all been going so well for Serena Campbell, as acting CEO after Henrik Hanssen's abrupt departure she had the hospital running like clockwork. Then Hanssen returned and everything began to change.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: There's been an outbreak (hmmm, that makes it sound like a disease!) of Serena/Hanssen fics recently and I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon. They aren't a pair I'd have initially shipped but especially with the way they are going to be 'keeping an eye' on each other now, who knows what may develop. Should be interesting to watch, there will undoubtedly be fireworks of some description at some point.**

**This is the same AU that 'Stitch' belongs to, a couple of references to that.**

**Usual disclaimers apply: I don't own Holby City, Henrik Hanssen or Guy Henry. Sigh. If only.**

'Oh. No. No way. Some jumped up little shit is not going to steal _my_ resection of the splenic flexure.' Serena storms away from Ric, past the nurses' station and pushes her way though the double doors which lead to the operating theatres.

Belatedly she realises that she didn't think to check the theatre lists on the ward so she doesn't know which of the two operating theatres her kidnapped patient is in and she tempers the urge to scold herself for reacting instantly rather than behaving like the calm and collected consultant she strives to portray.

She can have words with herself later when her missing patient has been located and the body of whichever surgeon is stood over them cannot be found nor identified. Her eyes narrow dangerously as she stops outside the viewing window for the first operating theatre, seeing the figure of Mr. Malick facing away from her.

'He wouldn't dare, would he?' Serena considers the man for a split second, acknowledging that the registrar was ambitious but he's still on too thin ice to risk her wrath by stealing the CEO's operation, even if she is a few minutes late. She reaches out and stabs the intercom button a little harder than she meant to, trying to hide the wince and the potential temper explosion from her voice.

"Mr. Malick," she watches him turn his head to face her, his face mostly hidden by his mask.

"Morning, Ms. Campbell," he acknowledges her presence casually and Serena eyes him like a hawk, looking for any clue or sign of his guilt and is annoyed when she detects none. "What can I do for you?"

Serena responds, telling herself that her enquiry is part of her role as CEO and Director of Surgery rather than a senior surgeon slighted by a younger colleague. "What have you got there?" She gestures at the table, keeping her face stern and if Malick is confused by her question, he doesn't show it.

"Mrs. Fuller, Cholecystectomy. Nearly done. Why?" Serena tries not to curl her lip in disappointment, although part of her is glad it isn't Malick, she rather likes his attitude and she would hate to have to add another black mark to his record.

"No reason. As you were." She barely sees Malick shrug and turn back to the table, reaching out for a device from one of the scrub nurses. Serena remembers why she is stood there and feels her anger bubble back to the fore; her hijacked patient can only be in the second theatre and she's putting on her scrub cap, fiddling with the tie at the back as she bursts through the door into the second theatre, ready to throw this surgeon out of her theatre so quickly that their head will spin.

"What on earth are you doing?" She's fighting a losing battle to remain calm, she knows as CEO she should rise above any attempts to undermine her authority but she still feels like a woman scorned.

Serena lets her anger fester as she gets a mere dismissive tilt of the head from the surgeon, she can't see who it is as she squints at the lights positioned behind their head. It crosses her mind that they are tall but dismisses it as irrelevant until the figure moves to the left, out of the light and as her eyes focus, she registers the glasses and eyes as familiar.

"Good morning, Ms. Campbell." She does little more than blink as a fluttering feeling develops in her stomach.

It _is_ Mr. Hanssen.

She can even hear the smirk in his voice and she realises that the Swede is enjoying having the upper hand in her unexpected meeting; he has undoubtedly had all morning to practice his greeting as he engineered the situation.

"I thought if I took care of things here, that would give you the time to clear your things from my office." Serena can count on one hand the amount of times she has been speechless and this is one of them; her mind has just stopped working as it tries to compute all of the information and implications of that information in front of her.

"Not a problem, is it?"

"No. Not at all." She attempts a polite smile but is aware that it is strained as her brain finally engages with her mouth and she leaves the theatre utterly stunned as Hanssen turns back to _his_ resection of the splenic flexure, unaware of the way he glances after her.

* * *

Serena didn't look at Ric or anyone as she strode through the ward on the way to the lifts to the fifth floor, not feeling up to taking the stairs. She swipes angrily at the button to summon the lift berating herself as she waits for the lift, arms folded, wondering if Ric was in on the joke at her expense.

'Like a schoolgirl in front of a crush', she huffs at her own actions just now, feeling as though she has been ambushed. Serena is distracted from her immediate desire to _do something _by the disembodied voice in the lift announcing 'doors opening'. She is about to step into the lift when she realises that it is already occupied and she would quite appreciate a quick word with its sole occupant.

"Ah," she raises a hand to stop Cunningham in his tracks, "if you're on your way to tell me, there's no need – I've already seen him."

"And?"

"Found him in theatre, doing _my_ operation. Quite the thing." She tries not to let her fake smile descend into a sneer. "Can he do that?" Her tone challenging.

"According to HR, he is perfectly within his rights."

"Oh, for heaven's sake." Serena can barely believe what she's hearing, frustrated at the way her day has developed.

"He has ended his sabbatical and as of nine AM this morning, he's once again, CEO and Director of Surgery."

"But he's been AWOL for two months, doesn't he at least have to... fill in a form?"

"It appears not," Serena watches the man check his watch for show, "now, I'm talking to the board shortly but until then, it is a case, I'm afraid, of 'as you were'." She glares at the useless man as the lift doors close once more, separating them and Serena realises that she'll have to take the stairs to the fifth floor anyway and she makes a mental note to remind herself to call her daughter back – her day has changed somewhat since they spoke all of half an hour ago.

* * *

"People deserve an explanation," Serena comes to a stop next to the tall Swede, trying to put as much emphasis on people as she can. People means her. She wants an explanation, dammit.

"If the board require an official response, then they can have it, they only have to ask." Serena briefly entertains the notion of reaching up and strangling the man, spelling out to him that _she_ is asking. He's too good at subterfuge to not to know what she is asking. She decides to change her approach.

"It's not just the board you have to convince," she says, pointedly looking at him, knowing it was a lack of confidence by his staff which caused his absence in the first place but he has deliberately turned away and she knows that he understands what she is saying and what she isn't saying. "It's your staff."

They're interrupted by a loud patient that Serena doesn't recognise and although she wants an answer, as Hanssen inclines his head at her and wanders off, leaving her to deal with the obnoxious woman, she knows she picked the wrong opportunity to question him.

She huffs again in annoyance, her gaze lingering on him as he sweeps off the ward, somehow still managing to look graceful in his red scrubs. She is rusty, there has been no-one in the same league recently for machinations and manipulation and now Hanssen is back she has a worthy rival to butt heads with again.

She would grudgingly admit to having missed his looming presence and dry observations over the past couple of months, his calming presence in the face of Imelda's bluster would have been most welcome. It was the way he had just disappeared off the face of the planet not long after he'd been attacked and Serena had stitched up his wounds which had Serena concerned about him, he'd shown her some weakness, perhaps unwillingly so but he hadn't thrown her out of his office on that day and in the end had relented and allowed her to treat him. She thought that would have counted for something.

She supposes that absence makes the heart grow fonder but today it's business as usual with the enigmatic man, his professional walls in fine form and she wants to throttle him.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Serena finds herself back in theatre two on Keller, this time without anyone stealing her operation. She provides a sarcastic running commentary in her head about the man's actions this morning, careful not to mutter out loud in case the scrub nurse becomes concerned.

Out of the corner of her eye, she can see a tall, immaculately-suited figure appear at the observation window and she fights the urge to sigh in annoyance. Serena studiously concentrates on the monitor in front of her, deliberately _not_ looking at him. He hasn't announced his presence over the intercom as is his wont when he wants something so she pretends to ignore him, equal to the task.

After a couple of minutes of his scrutiny, Serena decides they're both being ridiculous and decides to acknowledge the presence of the 'once again CEO and director of surgery'. As soon as she has reached a suitable place to stop for a moment, she seizes the opportunity and taking a deep breath, squares her shoulder to face him.

Only to find the observation window empty.

Serena frowns as she feels a flash of disappointment at his departure. Returning her focus to Ms. Laidlaw in front of her, she wonders what he had been there for and why.

* * *

She gets her answer as she leaves the operating theatre after Ms. Laidlaw's endoscopic procedure.

"He voted for you."

As Cunningham's opening remark, it isn't what she expected to hear as the chairman suddenly materialises next to her from behind a pillar when she makes her way back onto the ward after theatre. It takes her a moment to work out what Cunningham means, who has voted for her and voted for what.

"Really?" For a moment Serena is genuinely thrilled until it dawns on her that this is Henrik Hanssen they're dealing with and the smile fades from her face, morphing into suspicion. "Why?"

It causes Cunningham to stop and look as blank as she has come to expect from him as she is forced to elaborate. "What's he up to?"

"I don't think he's up to anything." Serena barely resists the urge to roll her eyes in the face of Cunningham's stupidity, wondering how the man can be so dense. "He must have just seen sense, that's all." He turns around and smirks at her and Serena is unmoved by the display.

He goes to move off, back in the direction that he appeared from before swinging back around to stand too close to her for her liking and lowering his voice slightly; she hopes this isn't an attempt at flirting by the chairman, Serena rather thinks that Hanssen, in all his awkward glory would fare better and considering the way he has turned her day upside down and driven her mad, that is saying something.

"Anyway," he leans in a little more and Serena can smell the coffee on his breath. "At least we've got someone who can keep an eye on him now."

She doesn't care for the way his eyes rove over her chest as he makes his statement. She plasters another fake smile onto her face and is slightly disgusted by Cunningham's appraisal of her. She is relieved when he wanders off and calls him all manner of names in her head.

Since the board's decision to offer the interim CEO position to Imelda Cousins instead of herself in the wake of Mr. Hanssen's abrupt and sudden departure from the hospital, especially after Cunningham had all but promised her the job, Serena Campbell has actively avoided Mr. Cunningham. This morning's events have not helped to change her mind or put the chairman of the board in a better light.

She is rapidly losing confidence in the chairman but decides to play along for the moment, to see what she can work out and if the man's plans suit hers. She knows that in the end the man's attempts don't stand a chance against Hanssen's machinations. She isn't picking a side as such – merely choosing the options which are to her own benefit – she has to look out for herself.

She lets the superficial smile fall off her face as she moves away from Cunningham towards the Keller Consultant's office – she has some thinking to do about Hanssen and try and work out what he is up to. She stops short as she sees Ms. Laidlaw dressed already and raring to leave the hospital.

* * *

Serena is back into her office, her shift had finished nearly half an hour earlier but she is still sat in the consultant's office on Keller. She has a folder and some patient notes in front of her but her pen hasn't moved for a few minutes and she has no idea any more what it is that she is reading.

Since the slightly cool reunion in Theatre two, her mind has been occupied with the reappearance of Hanssen, back to his enigmatic best. She supposes she should be thankful that he hasn't yet banished her back to AAU to be forced to deal with Michael Spence again.

Other than briefly on the ward, she hasn't spoken to Hanssen, she had dawdled a bit clearing out the office in the hope that he would reappear so they could speak without success. She had reluctantly left the office – she finds she can't use a possessive term yet – his sudden reappearance and takeover without as much as a 'thank you, Ms. Campbell' smarts.

Serena had gone to Darwin in the search for Ms. Naylor, not long after she had vacated the fifth floor office and deposited her possessions on Keller. She found the consultant at the Darwin Nurses' station, looking annoyed.

"Problem?"

"A no show." Serena watches Jac turn away, only to realise a moment later that she is still stood there with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?" Serena is prepared to overlook Jac's rudeness, the younger woman has information that she needs, she can't risk alienating her just yet.

"What happened last week in Stockholm?" More specifically, Serena wants to know what Jac had said to Hanssen to make him return so suddenly.

"I told you," the younger woman replies, sounding bored with the conversation already.

"Yes and I think his judgement has been impaired for several weeks – why was he even there?"

"He's Swedish, where else would he go?" Serena is certain that Jac knows more than she is letting on but her answer cannot be challenged without giving the game away. Serena glares at Jac who sighs, "he had personal matters to attend to."

"So he has said." Serena mutters, just loud enough for to Jac to hear.

"Well then." Jac makes it clear the conversation is over as a man sits down heavily next to her and Serena vaguely recognises him from Paediatrics. Without another word, Serena marches off the ward, ready to head back to Keller, still wondering what Jac had said to Hanssen to make him return to Holby so suddenly and feeling a bit slighted that Hanssen hasn't said anything to her.

The rational part of her can accept that the CEO job was never really hers to hold onto upon his return, no matter her manipulations to remove Imelda Cousins, it _is_ still Hanssen's job. With a sigh, she glances at the clock and realises that she's wasting time and avoiding her daughter's expected unhappiness, Serena packs her bag and shrugs on her coat, checking the office a final time before leaving her new domain.

On a whim, she decides to walk up to the fifth floor to see Hanssen. If he won't come to her – and it doesn't look like he will, she will have to go to him.

* * *

The man has inadvertently made Serena felt like a prize fool, waiting after her shift, pacing up and down the fifth floor corridor, not quite masochistic enough to speak to the man in the office that was hers only a few hours before. Serena can't quite make up her mind whether to leave the hospital, go home, pour herself a glass of wine and try and forget about the day or remain and confront the man. Eventually her indecision is rewarded as she walks back along the corridor, she sees the lights in his office extinguished and the familiar tall figure steps out, locking the door.

"Mr. Hanssen." She greets him casually as if it is an everyday occurrence to just be walking along the fifth floor corridor as he is leaving.

"Ah, Ms. Campbell," his reply is just as neutral and Serena can't discern anything behind his words. She hopes that he hasn't seen her walking up and down and is thankful when he doesn't mention it. "I believe you will be my new sidekick." By this time she has drawn level with him and silently catalogues the differences between today and eight weeks ago, while he doesn't look totally rested and refreshed, he doesn't look as strained and ill as he did.

"Yes, well, thank you for the opportunity. I look forward to working alongside you." In her office earlier, alone, she had had to suppress the thrill at the thought of working with Hanssen again when Cunningham's message and its implications finally registered.

Once or twice, the thought of pursuing an affair with the enigmatic and mysterious Henrik Hanssen had crossed her mind. He had been the focus of her thoughts more often than she would care to admit, especially after the events in his office and during his absence. She had seen a human side to the man, one who suffers and bleeds the same way as everyone else and the image had stuck with her.

She isn't naïve, the situation did arise, it would probably wind up being as awkward as some of the Swede's attempts at small talk and they'd never be able to look each other in the eye again without cringing. However, there is a voice which reminds her of the smallest possibility that based on the way he reacted to her after his attack, that something might just work, there is a possibility for their relationship to develop, even if it's just to become friends, she'd like that.

Pleasantries observed, Serena wants to steer the conversation back to her earlier questions. She also knows Hanssen will hate any reference to it but she wants to know about his recovery from the attack.

"Indeed." He looks at her for a moment as if he is about to say something else and Serena waits before he changes his mind. "Good night, Ms. Campbell."

Serena watches helplessly as he sidesteps her, both figuratively and literally and sweeps down the corridor and again she curses her missed opportunity. She remains where she is, observing Hanssen's tall figure gracefully move away as if he hadn't been AWOL for months and it frustrates her, the man himself frustrates her.

Perhaps she'll have that glass of wine after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thank you all for the great response I had to the first chapter; I'm glad that there are other people which also think there's a hint of something between the two characters. Just a short little chapter to tide things over, my 'to do' list has been a little neglected recently and I need to play catch up. So, as the-CEO-who-must-not-be-named would say: onwards! **

Serena's first week as Hanssen's elected executive director seems to mostly include being the man's gopher rather than his 'sidekick'. He has delegated what feels like the majority of his clinical matters paperwork to Serena to complete, barely leaving her with enough time for her patients, let alone her own paperwork.

After the first day, she had wanted to approach him about the amount that he was sending her way but had held her tongue, deciding to stick it out for a little longer; if it was a test on Hanssen's part to determine Serena's dedication to her new role, she certainly wasn't going to lose in a battle of wills. He might drive her mad but she will not ever let him know that.

Even if she did crumple and complain to him, Serena imagines that he would stand there with that frustrating half smirk of his and he'd calmly tell her that 'naturally the job involved a lot of paperwork', wondered 'what else she expected' and offer to accept her resignation from the role if she felt that this demand hadn't been explained to her by the Chairman of the Board. At the moment, she can't see how she can win and elects to remain silent until such an opportunity presents itself.

She's tempted to leave on time tonight, it would mean she would almost certainly fall behind on the myriad reports and data that Hanssen appears to have created out of thin air but she would like to actually have a conversation and speak to her daughter and see more of her house than the route from the front door to her bedroom which is pretty much all she has managed for the past few nights before collapsing into bed until it's time to leave the house again for her next shift.

More than once she has cursed Mr. Cunningham for inventing the role which is causing her more headaches than her time as CEO did. Serena is thankful that she is still based on Keller and is currently sharing the office with Ric Griffin rather than on AAU with Michael Spence. Serena glances at Ric who is sat at his desk, pen silently flowing over the paper he's using and she shoots jealous looks at Ric's comparatively small pile of work.

Hanssen hasn't mentioned her self authorised transfer from AAU back to Keller which was one of the first things she did as CEO. She is convinced that he will speak to her about it at some point, the man won't have forgotten and he'll let her wait just long enough so that she thinks he has before he introduces it at a likely inconvenient time, putting her once more on the back foot. She'd do exactly the same thing if the situations were reversed, thankfully she has her answer already prepared.

Her thoughts are broken by her laptop's email program pinging to signal the arrival of a new message into her inbox. She selects the message tentatively, seeing Hanssen's name appear as the sender. The message is brief, he'd like her views on the attached report. When she opens the attachment and sees the size of the report she curses out loud.

"Ugh, I hate some men." Serena sees out of the corner of her eye how her outburst causes Ric to look up from his work with an expression that's a mixture of surprise and amusement.

"Do you have a list?" Serena chooses to ignore any implications of that comment, her annoyance currently targeted elsewhere and answers it literally.

"No, there's only one – he's tall and of the Swedish variety." She mutters, loud enough for Ric to hear and she hears him laugh quietly as her focus remains on her screen, randomly scrolling through the pages of the report.

"Oh, that's alright then, I was worried that we were going to be dealing with an outbreak of aggressive feminism on the ward. You know, violent outbursts, the ritual burning of bras." Serena's frustration spikes and she fixes Ric with a glare, looking up sharply from her laptop screen, thinking that comments like that do not help.

"It's that kind of backwards attitude, Ric Griffin, which really doesn't-" Her retort is stopped short by Ric's gentle laughter.

"Oh, so there is still some life left in you. The past few days you've been looking like a zombie in need of... something." She watches him shrug.

"Something?" Serena mimics, arching an eyebrow.

"Whatever it is that zombies need." She rolls her eyes.

"What I need is a big glass of bloody good Shiraz... and then a second one." Serena leans back in her chair and closes her eyes, smiling slightly in anticipation of the glass of wine which is waiting for her that evening, thinking that 'Hanssen will drive me to drink, this is only the third day of this madness'. Opening an eye, when Ric doesn't respond she clocks the look on his face. "What?"

"What has the man actually done?" Serena looks at Ric who has put his pen down and is also leaning back in his chair, a curious expression on his face. Serena can't detect any ulterior motive to her annoyance, she wants to know why Ric wants to know; her suspicion obviously shows in her expression because he throws his hands up in a mock surrender.

"Oh come on, I'm not spying on you the way you're obviously spying on Henrik." Serena frowns, the idea hadn't occurred to her – it'd be just like Hanssen to orchestrate something like that. "I'm not!"

"You'd better not be, Ric." Serena concedes, her earlier frustration has dissipated and she tiredly decides to give the other consultant the benefit of the doubt for the moment. "All I've done is paperwork since Tuesday. 75% of that is his which he's dumped onto me." Serena groans and leans forward, resting her head on her forearms.

"Ah," Ric says knowingly and Serena tilts her head a little, cracking open an eye to look at him. "It sounds like you've met your match." By the time that Ric's words have registered and Serena has raised her head to fix Ric with a glare, he has picked up his pen again and is once more innocently writing away on his report.

"Oh, for the love of... If you're not careful, I'll add you to that list, Ric."

"And what list would that be?" Both Serena and Ric's heads snap to the doorway as the familiar cadence of the Director of Surgery's voice interrupts their bickering.

"Mr. Hanssen," Serena greets him, adding under her breath, "oh goody." Ric gives her a sharp look and Serena has a horrible feeling her comment was a little louder than she'd meant it to be.

"It's the list of men that she hates." Serena shoots a glare at Ric for his betrayal. "It appears that I am currently residing at number two."

"I see." Serena chances a look at the Swede and she can almost see the cogs turning in his mind, the man wondering if it is he who occupies that top spot. Serena can't quite decide if she wants the man to ask about the identity of 'number one' or not.

"Yep," Ric grins. "Right, I'm off – a date with my TV awaits."

"Good night, Mr. Griffin." Serena thinks that Hanssen appears almost amused by Ric's comment and figures that it must be a male thing because it really wasn't funny. There's an odd silence in the office as they wait for Ric to gather his things together and leave.

"Oh, Serena," Ric turns back to address her as he is about to leave the room, craning his head past Hanssen and she looks over to him. "No bra burning on the ward." Serena glares at Ric as he laughs and makes his escape out of the door past a confused Hanssen.

"I'm pretty sure I do not wish to be made aware of the details of your conversation leading to that statement by Mr. Griffin." Serena feels embarrassed, she is certainly going to get Ric back for that stunt. There is no explanation coming to mind which will make that statement seem rational or less damaging than whatever reason is being concocted in Hanssen's head and she settles for trying to move on as quickly as possible, damage limitation.

"That's probably a good choice." Her embarrassment fades as she realises who is standing in her office and how annoyed she is at him at the moment. Before the man can speak and dictate the conversation, Serena grasps the opportunity to do so herself.

"And have you done_ any_ paperwork this week?"

"Excuse me?" He obviously wasn't expecting her to say that and Serena feels a brief flash of victory at the thought of regaining the control of the situation.

"Or have you fobbed it _all_ off onto me?" Serena glares at the man stood in the doorway who tilts his head slightly before replying.

"Ah. My apologies, Ms. Campbell," his tone is calm, it would probably be quite soothing if she didn't find it so patronising at the moment. "I was unaware that you were struggling with the current workload."

'Does the man not listen?' Serena wonders, frustratedly. "I'm not-"

"Either you are or you aren't, Ms. Campbell." She now regrets bringing up the issue of paperwork in the first place, she should just have found out what the man wanted and then gotten rid of him as quickly as possible so she could head home. "There's no shame in asking for help."

Serena snorts in wry amusement. "A case of 'do as I say, not as I do', Mr. Hanssen?" The man remains unmoved and after a moment Serena sighs.

"I wouldn't object to the current workload if I didn't have a teenage daughter waiting at home, alone for the millionth time for a mother that she barely sees over the piles of paperwork..." Serena trails off, not sure why she mentioned her daughter, she tries to avoid allowing her personal and professional lives to overlap; when she is at home, she is at home and when she is at work, she is at work. Hanssen is still stood in the doorway, not having moved since he announced his presence to Ric and Serena a few minutes earlier. Serena tries to meet his gaze as he observes her silently, face inscrutable and she doesn't have a clue what he is thinking.

"Perhaps you should call it a night and head home, Ms. Campbell, your paperwork will still be waiting for you on Monday." Serena has to reluctantly concede that he may have a point. "And it seems that children rarely wait for their parents." Serena glances up as she hears the quiet comment and she catches sight of an odd look on his face before it becomes blank once more.

As he bids her a good night and sweeps out of the door, Serena realises that she never found out what it was that he had come to see her about. She catches herself staring at the office door, long after Hanssen has made his exit and dismissing her actions as tiredness, she shakes her head and returns her focus to this report.

After a few more minutes of staring at her laptop, looking the same page three times and not having read a word, Serena complies with Hanssen's suggestion and decides to head home, the closest to 'on time' that she has managed all week. She acknowledges that she isn't going to get any more paperwork done tonight and grudgingly admits that Hanssen was right – it will still be there on Monday. Unfortunately.

Having collected her belongings and shrugged on her coat, Serena makes her way off the ward, down to the ground level exit of the Wyvern wing of the hospital and across the illuminated entrance to the less well-lit staff car park.

So far the sole advantage to her new role is that she now has an assigned parking space next to Hanssen and doesn't have to wrestle with Mr. Spence every day for a spot to leave her car. The man seemed to take great delight in stealing her previous parking space and his immature antics would wind her up and test her patience before the day had even begun. Now she is waiting for the American to try that again and she will not hesitate and take great satisfaction in getting his car clamped and/or towed away.

Fishing her mobile phone out of her bag, Serena rings her daughter to let her know that she is on her way home, doesn't want to cook and rather fancies a takeaway. As her daughter is debating between two dishes, Serena distractedly looks out of the driver's window at the hospital. She sees the familiar dark silhouette of the Director of Surgery on the fifth floor landing, looking out over the hospital, apparently surveying his empire in the growing darkness and she is distracted enough by the man's utter stillness to miss her daughter's choice and is brought back to the present by her daughter's insistent "Mum!"

'This is becoming ridiculous' thinks Serena to herself as she makes a note of her daughter's choice and hangs up, fending off Eleanor's concerns, blaming it on a bad line but feeling like a fool. Again. She curses the man who has made her feel ridiculous far too many times since his return. She's glad it's dark because she's sure that she is blushing as she pulls out of the hospital car park and heads towards the ever-busy Holby ring road and to her home.

Dinner is a great success and Serena is pleased that Eleanor makes no reference to Serena's earlier distraction. She would never hear the end of it if her daughter caught wind of the fact that her mother's attention had been on a man; never mind how utterly infuriating, frustrating and pedantic the man is.

Serena gets up and moves into her kitchen, leaving her daughter ostensibly to do some coursework but Serena knows that as soon as her back is turned, Eleanor will be on Facebook and whatever else it is that she does online. Serena finds that she really doesn't care tonight, it's Friday and she has the whole weekend off work. She pours herself another glass of wine, thinking about how she has earned it – today has been another 'one of those days' and once more, the main culprit is the tall, thin and rather enigmatic Mr. Hanssen.

Sticking her head back into the living room, she is amused at how her daughter reactively tilts her laptop screen so it can't be seen but deciding not to call her on it, Serena informs her she is going to have a bath and head on to bed for an early night afterwards.

Closing her eyes as she settles down into the warm water, Serena can feel the stress of the week begin to melt away, now she's away from the hospital and the man who has installed himself as the main cause of her stress. She lets her thoughts drift as she unwinds and they settle on Hanssen once more.

She ignores the slight niggling feeling which tells her that he's been on her mind pretty much since his sudden return on Tuesday and mutters to herself that she 'should be thankful she's not dreaming about the man'.

As much as she has moaned about the volume of work that she has been assigned since her appointment as 'Executive Director', part of her is glad for Hanssen's decision to keep her busy on paperwork. She hasn't had a chance to speak to Cunningham yet and after the way he'd acted around her on the ward, leering at her, Serena was inclined to delay any communication with the Chairman for as long as possible. She wasn't going to tell Hanssen that; both men seemed to think of Serena Campbell and Terrence Cunningham as partners in crime and it may be something that she could work to her own advantage.

She sinks lower down into the water, thinking that it's usually frustration or nervous anticipation which accompanies the appearance of the Swede but she notes that he always generates some kind of reaction in her which is more than can be said for most people that Serena interacts with on a regular basis.

During the week, on the rare occasion that Serena left her office, she'd passed him a couple of times in the corridors of the hospital, leaving his companions trailing in his wake behind his measured strides. She'd watch him closely as he approached her and he'd nod to her, a professional greeting between two of the most senior consultants in the hospital and she'd swear that he had a slight smirk on his face.

Serena smiles to herself, taking a sip of her wine, if anyone else was to listen to her, they would think that she... she jerks in surprise at the answer and her glass of wine misses the edge of the bath and falls into the water. Serena's surprise also causes her to slip and she swallows a mouthful of bubbles and bathwater, coughing and spluttering as she surfaces.

'Oh no.' She thinks with a panic. She can't be. There is no way that she is attracted to Henrik Hanssen. No way at all.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I changed this a little bit, something that was said on AAU in last week's episode gave me an evil idea which has had ramifications on future chapters (5 onwards). Heh heh heh. In this chapter, Hanssen winds Serena up even more until right at the end, but as always there is a method in the madness. Stay tuned. **

**Thank you all for the lovely reviews, I've not gotten round to replying to them yet and I will try my best to do so today. Keep them coming, let me know what you think! Thanks again.**

Chapter 3.

Serena has barely taken off her coat in the Keller consultants' office on Monday morning when a nurse enters and calls her urgently over to a patient, one of Ric's. She mutters to herself about 'never being able to get anything done' as she follows the nurse out onto the ward, shooting one last look at the desk and the paperwork that she should be doing as she shuts the door behind her, a little harder than she meant to, her frustration getting the better of her already.

She can see that the patient's condition has deteriorated, some kind of a post-operation complication and they will have to get them back into theatre, open them back up and see what they can do. To her relief, Ric appears next to her and Serena is too concerned about the patient to recall that she is supposed to be plotting revenge against the other consultant for his actions on Friday evening.

"Are you alright?" Ric's question in theatre as they stand over the patient trying to stem a bleed is unexpected.

"Fine," she replies sharply, craning her head to try and see where the bleed is located. Realising that she might have been a bit sharp, Serena looks up at Ric, "sorry, long weekend. It was just... Ah, I've got it – packs."

It _had_ been a long weekend, since the bath-incident (as she has been calling it in her head), she'd resisted her conclusion, dismissed it as laughable. She'd been forced to drain the bath and had wound up having a shower in an attempt to remove the smell of the wine that she'd spilled from her skin.

She'd gone to bed annoyed, the faint smell of spilled Shiraz still lingering, much to her despair. For what feels like the hundredth time this week, Serena cursed Henrik Hanssen – the man is causing her no end of frustrations and problems and she can't even escape him at home it seems.

Pulling the duvet up around her, Serena lay on her side, wide awake and in no danger of falling asleep, despite the bone crushing tiredness which surrounded her. As the first rays of light broke through a gap in the curtains, Serena finally succumbed to sleep, content with herself and the plan that she has devised.

"I should still be angry with you." Serena glances at the other consultant out of the corner of her eye and she sees him frown as he tries to work out what he's done as they stand side by side at the sink after the surgery as the patient is wheeled to recovery. "For embarrassing me in front of Hanssen on Friday. Bra burning, I mean honestly."

"Ah."

"Yes, _'Ah'_." She stops and turns around to face Ric, attempting to look stern but failing and she leans in to whisper conspiratorially, smirking, "I am forced to concede though, that was rather good. The poor man didn't know what to say." She sees Ric suppress his amusement as he nods, to all appearances, their conversation appears a routine chat about a patient or a surgery rather than Serena's underwear and the stoic Director of Surgery; two things she never thought she'd ever see or hear in the same sentence.

"I can imagine." He glances sideways at her as he asks, "how's your paperwork?" Serena's spirits sink a little, she'd almost forgotten about the mountain that awaits her.

"Ugh, don't remind me about _that_. I haven't even sat down yet, let alone looked at the stuff." Electing to stay in scrubs for the next few hours, despite their completely unflattering shape, Serena makes her way out of the theatre onto the ward next to Ric. "I dread to think how many emails I have this morning. This madness calls for some serious caffeine – I'll be back." With that she turns back the way she came towards the lifts, leaving Ric somewhere behind her.

Stepping out of the lift into the foyer of the Wyvern wing, Serena joins the queue for hot drinks. Stood in the line for some much-needed coffee, she thinks about Hanssen and the plan she devised lying awake on Friday night. It isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination but short of resigning from Holby, she doesn't have any other viable options. Her resignation would definitely tell Hanssen that something was wrong and he'd undoubtedly then try and hound it out of her anyway.

She's jerked from her mind's impression of Hanssen's face if she was to tell him she was resigning because she was attracted to him, by the man behind the counter asking her about her drink. Hoping that she isn't blushing, she gives the man her order and hands over some money.

Whilst the drink is being made, Serena reflects on the plan she has implemented from today. She eventually acknowledged that there was a remote possibility that she might have formed some kind of attraction to the enigmatic Swede and it's too late to help that. However, she is under no obligation to nurture it and it's in her best interests to nip it in the bud. The man frustrates her at almost every opportunity, all that she has to do is to remind herself of that and after a fashion she'll come back around to sanity and realise that whatever madness caused this has passed. Simple.

Nodding her thanks, she picks up the cup and navigates her way to the lift to take her back to Keller so that she can reluctantly get on with doing Hanssen's paperwork. She huffs in annoyance at how he has dumped all of this work onto her plate without any concern for how she is to do this as well as manage her electives and run the ward. As the doors begin to close, accompanied as always by the mechanical voice forever stating the obvious, Serena thinks that her plan stands some chance of working.

"Hold the doors please." She obliges on reflex, sticking an arm out to prevent their closure and regrets her action almost immediately as Hanssen gets in the lift with her.

'Oh damn' she thinks as her spirits simultaneously sink and rise and she fights to keep her face expressionless. This whole business might take longer than she anticipated but is determined to stick with her plan.

"Ah. Good morning, Ms. Campbell."

"Mr. Hanssen." She greets him a neutrally as possible and tries to act normally, taking the opportunity to try and hide her face behind the coffee cup, sipping and trying not to wince at the scalding temperature of the substance which passes for coffee in this hospital.

Serena has already pushed the button for Keller on the 4th floor and it is already illuminated; she watches Hanssen reach out, his long, pale fingers select the fifth floor and she curses herself silently for noticing the elegant movement of his hands. As the lift begins its ascent towards their respective floors she catches herself observing the man out out of the corner of her eye, she notices he's wearing a grey suit which she rather likes on him.

'This is not helping', she forces herself to face the front of the carriage and her gaze travels to the electronic display and she thinks that the lift is ascending deliberately slowly, the disembodied voice she was sneering at earlier has obviously picked up on her distress and is mocking her in revenge. Sighing a little, she wonders if they're going to ignore each other the way that they did when Serena was in theatre on his first day back.

To her surprise, Hanssen initiates a conversation and she's thankful that it isn't small talk or anything personal but straight into business, the effort of maintaining inane conversation is something that she can do when she needs to but she suspects with the Swede it would rapidly become too awkward to revive.

"The volume of paperwork needing your attention will be reduced this week. This will facilitate the resumption of a full electives list and allow your daughter to spend more time seeing her mother."

"What-" Serena ignores the almost sad expression on Hanssen's face at the last part of his comment, instead focussing on how he is reducing her paperwork. If he thinks that she can't cope...

"As you informed me, the initial volume was unsustainable, however it _was_ necessary, the delegated material was never completed by Ms. Cousins during her tenure. I have handled the rest." Serena doesn't know quite what to make of the information. "We'll be on top of things shortly."

"Do you think I can't do it?" If this is some chivalrous act on his part because he thinks she can't cope, then he needs to get his head out of the sand – it's insulting and she's not interested.

"I'm all too aware of what you're capable of, Ms. Campbell." She remains silent as the lift draws to a stop and as soon as the doors open, she strides away, not wanting to admit quite how much his words stung.

Barging into the office that she shares with Ric, Serena shuts the door behind her with her foot whilst trying not to spill any hot coffee over her. She lets out a sigh at the thought of the paperwork that awaits her but frowns as she looks at the neatly stacked pile of paper, positive that that wasn't how she'd left it but shrugs, figuring that the cleaners must have gathered it together over the weekend at some point.

She's a little annoyed at that, certain that they'll have muddled the order. Delaying the inevitable frustration, she sits back in her chair, finishes her coffee and then settles down to work, sorting out what's been done and what still remains to be done.

"Done. Done. Done..." Serena pauses, suspicious at what's going on: she's two thirds of the way through the pile of the now haphazard folders and reports without a single one she can put on the 'to do' pile and she knows she left more than a third of them to do today.

She picks up the last work which has been 'done' and realises that she didn't do this. Definitely not. The previous folder shows the same thing and she flicks through the remaining third of a pile: all done. Most of them have been typed but one which has been handwritten gets her attention, she recognises that handwriting and it isn't hers. It isn't Ric's. The cursive is distinctly European.

"He hasn't..." Serena is touched by Hanssen's gesture until she tempers her reaction, certain that he has done this to wind her up, that he is plotting something.

'How dare he.' She wants to throttle the man. Serena doesn't want him to do something considerate like this for her; she wants him to be cold-hearted and distantly professional, not considerate and... nice. Or she'll have no chance, she can't stay mad at him when he does something like this and her plan is dependent on her negative emotional responses to the man outweighing any positive.

"Oh hell." Serena considers that she might just be in trouble.

_"Problem?"_

_Serena takes a moment to answer Ric's question, not having heard the man enter the office and pauses to consider his question, is there a problem?_

_"Nothing I can't handle," she tells her colleague, hoping that she sounds more confident than she feels because she doesn't quite know how to react the the discovery of Hanssen's random act of kindness._

_Serena is fairly certain that the closely guarded feminine part of her mind has gleefully abandoned her, fluttering up into the ether somewhere above the hospital roof with pure giddiness but the Doctor and cynic in her manages to suppress its excitement for the moment, her natural suspicion of Hanssen proving dominant currently – she doesn't know and therefore doesn't trust his motives. _

_Hanssen's job, the one she was so rudely booted out of is a time-consuming one but even he, workaholic that he is, wouldn't do her paperwork without a reason, unless he wanted something in return. 'Or something to hold over me', her mind supplies. If it is a ploy to demonstrate her unsuitability to the board, then it's a poor one – most of the paperwork isn't due for a couple more days, behind or otherwise, she would have completed it before any deadline._

_Serena huffs to herself and resists the urge to bang her head against her desk until the facts as she knows them rearrange themselves and line themselves up to form a plausible theory for Hanssen's actions. She simply doesn't know why the man has done this._

_Speculating will do her no good; it will only drive her mad, 'more mad than he has already driven her' she thinks. Serena can't deny that she is grateful for what he has done but she is wary of what it is that he wants in return, he's managed to wrong-foot her and keep her guessing ever since his return and Serena is desperate to level the playing field somehow._

_"Hold the fort," she tells Ric, standing up suddenly and in response to the curious look she knows he'll be wearing, she answers before he can question, "I'm off to see a man about a hospital. Shouldn't be too long." She smiles sweetly and sails out of the door. _

_During the journey to the fifth floor, Serena's grudging gratitude has turned to suspicion, then to frustration with a hint of resignation. Whether she wants to or not, she owes Hanssen, again. She'd nullified the first debt almost straight away by treating his stab wounds after he'd been attacked __back in October. _

_Hanssen's pre-emptive strike has almost certain resigned her to something, she doesn't like being in this position, with little if any room to manoeuvre should she need to. She approaches her old office with frustration fuelling her courage and as her hand closes around the familiar feel of the door handle, Serena realises that this will be the first time that she has entered the room since she was forced to vacate so abruptly last Tuesday. Squaring her shoulders, Serena takes a deep breath and opens the door. _

_"Ms. Campbell," Hanssen's familiar cadence causes a brief fluttering sensation which she ruthlessly suppresses, trying to remind herself of her plan to deal with the unwanted attachment she seems to have formed. As she steps into the office, the desk coming into view, she realises that he identified her before she could even see him or visa versa and wonders how he managed it. "It is customary to knock before entering."_

_"I apologise..." It takes her a moment to locate Hanssen, he is not sat at his desk and is instead occupying a chair at the table at the back of his office and she realises that he is not alone. "Oh, I wasn't aware you had company." _

_"Good morning, Ms. Campbell." Now the other occupant of the office turns around and Serena is able to identify them. _

_"Professor." Serena cordially greets the woman, now recognising the member of the University board, the one who was so friendly with Dan Hamilton. "What brings you to Holby?" She is desperately trying to recall if she's missed an email only to realise that she hasn't yet had a chance to look at her emails for the day._

_"Business for the CEO's attention only." Hanssen interjects, preventing the older woman from answering and Serena's annoyance returns immediately. "No need to take your attention from your work. Good day, Ms. Campbell." She feels like she's been completely blind-sided and is forced to concede another round to the man, she can't retaliate with the Professor in the room with them and she imagines that Hanssen knows that and is taking full advantage. Serena nods, mutely, much as she did on his first day back and accedes to his orders without any manner of fight or resistance and turns to leave the office, stunned._

_"Oh, one final thing, Ms. Campbell." She takes a moment to regain her composure before she turns back to face the man and hears his chair move and a couple of footsteps on the soft carpet of the office. She faces him to find him stood relatively close to her and she's aware again of just how tall he is._

_"I believe you missed an item during you relocation last week." Serena follows his gaze and in his outstretched hand is a plant in its pot. "I apologise that an opportunity to return it has not until now presented itself. You'll find it has been watered sufficiently."_

_She snatches the plant out of his hand and fixes him with a glare before turning on the spot and storming out of the office. She doesn't stop for the lift and pushes her way through the doors onto the stairwell._

_"That man." Serena is furious. Any goodwill the man may have generated from his act of kindness has evaporated, as far as she is concerned, this kind of treatment is what the success of her plan is dependent upon. Glad that she seems to have read Hanssen so well, she storms back to the ward. The man may be the best part of a foot taller than her but she will throttle him and they will never __find the body._

_Serena had calmed a little by the time she returned to the fourth floor, the exertion of furiously marching from Hanssen's office depleting some of her frustration. Combined with the re-emergence of her professional mask, she had managed to appear in control as she opened the doors onto Keller and loosened her death grip on the plant pot in her hand. She was on her way to her office to deposit the plant when she'd been caught by Nurse Lane, wanting her to speak to one of her pre-op patients about their concerns._

_"Fine. Tell Mrs. Morris that I'll be over in two ticks." Serena watches the blonde nurse hurry away, a big smile on her face and Serena doesn't know how Chantelle manages to do it. With a sigh, she pushes open the ajar office door and sees Ric at his desk, slowly typing away at something._

_"Not quite flowers but I suppose he gets points for trying." Confused, Serena glances over at her colleague and sees his eyes are focused on the plant pot in her hand._

_"What?"_

_"Henrik gave you that plant?" Serena suddenly understands Ric's teasing and ignores the smile on his face as she's reminded once more of infuriating circumstances surrounding her repossession of the plant. She feels the urge to hurl the aforementioned plant at Ric but Serena figures that she would then have to explain to Hanssen at her inevitable disciplinary hearing why Ric was left concussed or unconscious in the office, covered in soil and bits of plant and she decides that no matter how tempting the idea is, it's not worth it. Besides, she is rather fond of this plant. _

_"Don't Ric, I'm not in the mood. And anyway, it's mine – I left it in the office last week. He ____very____kindly__ returned it." She puts the plant on her desk, wincing a little at the sound, deciding to find a home for it later, when she has calmed down. "Anything happen on the ward while I was gone?" Ric shakes his head and relieved, Serena exits the office and heads over to talk to her patient. _

_She'd spent a few minutes talking her patient through the operation one more time, reassuring the woman that it was a routine procedure which Serena had done hundreds of times before. She'd ordered her prepped for theatre and still in her scrubs from this morning, headed towards the Keller operating theatres to get ready herself. _

_The operation itself is textbook, no complications and runs smoothly. Serena couldn't have asked for a better case to refocus her mind and allow the day's emotions to seep away. Washing her hands after Mrs. Morris has been wheeled to recovery, Serena relaxes and lets her mind drift._

_Today is her _first working day since she devised her plan and the day's events have both helped and hindered her campaign to prove to herself that Hanssen is completely wrong for her. She thinks back to the brief conversation in the lift and wonders if what he said was true; that the large amounts of paperwork is now over – she can believe that Imelda Cousins neglected whole sections of her job to leave for someone else. Serena didn't think to check when she resumed her role as interim CEO, didn't suspect that her former St. George's colleague would still be as lazy now as she was then.

If Hanssen was telling the truth, she is impressed at how quickly he has gotten on top of things. She scrubs her hands a little harder, all too aware of the flush which is spreading up her neck in response to the ambiguous meaning of her thought and she huffs – she is being utterly ridiculous. Even Eleanor is more mature than this, Serena blames Michael Spence's influence, sharing an office with him for ten weeks has warped her mind.

She muses that at the rate things continue between them, they'll either be in bed by Easter or he'll be in a shallow grave somewhere. It would be quite a shame if it was the latter because his body in those tailored suits _is_ rather pleasant to observe.

_Serena exits the theatre and heads back to the ward, having gotten changed out of her scrubs and back into her own clothing, still annoyed with the Director of Surgery. Serena had made it as far as the nurses' station when she spotted a tall familiar figure on the ward by bed six. She'd paused mid-sentence talking to Chantelle as she realised that Hanssen had discarded his suit jacket somewhere and was currently attired in a crisp white shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a waistcoat._

_"Oh hell," she mumbles to herself for the second time today. "Excuse me." Serena turns and escapes towards the toilets, almost certainly blushing._

_"What's up with her?" She heard Malick's query and Chantelle's confusion before the doors to the toilets swung shut behind her, blocking out the rest of their conversation. Serena locked herself in a stall and had banged her head lightly against the door before she heard Chantelle's voice calling out to her._

_"Are you alright Ms. Campbell?"_

_"Fine, Chantelle." She resists allowing her sardonic internal voice free reign over her reply to the nurse. "It's just one of those days. I'll be out in a moment," and sighs quietly at the hopelessness of her situation as she hears the nurse leave. Serena takes two deep breaths to restore her calm façade and returns to the ward, prepared to deal with Hanssen once more, determined to remain distant and cool. _

_As she made her way back to the nurses' station, she glances around but doesn't see the tall Swede anywhere and relaxes. She picks up Mrs. Morris' file and flicks through it as she listens to Malick and Chantelle's friendly bickering. _

_"Mr. Hanssen" Serena hadn't heard him approach and she experiences the now familiar fluttering feeling which heralds his arrival as Chantelle greets him._

_"Ms. Campbell, a word if I may." She keeps her gaze buried in the folder in her hand, all too aware of how close he is stood to her._

_"I'm rather busy here on the ward, I'm afraid-"_

_"It's fine," Malick cuts her off and Serena rolls her eyes, that wasn't what she wanted the registrar to say. "The Malick and Chanters here have it all under control."_

_"Good to hear," Serena hears Hanssen say and she puts the folder back on the desk, resigned to her fate, she doesn't want to be subjected to more point scoring from Hanssen. "Shall we?" He turns away and is halfway to the office before she has taken a step._

_Serena enters the office and perches on the edge of her desk, careful not to knock the recently __returned plant over. Hanssen is stood stiffly in the middle of the office, his hands clasped behind his back. Serena remains silent, determined not to speak first, at all if she can manage it. After a indeterminate period of time, Hanssen breaks the silence and surprises her with his words._

_"I believe we have 'gotten off on the wrong foot' in the past week." 'Understatement of the decade' thinks Serena but she is willing to hear a bit more, she might even get an apology if she's lucky. "That was not my intention. I am rather hoping that we can put any previous business behind us and... start again?"_

_Serena smirks to herself, she'd been desperate for something like this to occur and she takes a moment to pretend to consider her options. Her best option is to accept, if all else fails, a less antagonistic working relationship with the man will benefit her liver, there are only so many glasses of wine that she can drink after work to cope with the utterly infuriating and enigmatic man._

_"Why not, Mr. Hanssen?" She decides to indulge herself and hops off the edge of the desk towards Hanssen who is still stood stiffly in the middle of the office and presses a soft kiss to his cheek, catching a faint trace of aftershave and smirks to herself when she sees the tips of his ears turn pink. Recovering quickly, he outlines his desire to finally schedule a meeting so they can hammer out the details of her appointment to the role of Executive Director._

_"One last thing. I also wish to let you know that I will be on a conference for the entirety of next week so the hospital will be in your capable hands, Ms. Campbell." In accordance with their new ceasefire, Serena offers a smile at the long-overdue mention of her tenure as CEO. _

_"No problem. Have a nice time in... where's this conference?" She doesn't remember hearing about it, then again, there is probably something mentioned in the emails that she still hasn't checked._

_"Nottingham." 'Odd location' thinks Serena, certain that Nottingham's hospital has only an A1 rating. _

_"Well then, have a nice time in Nottingham, Mr. Hanssen." She smiles at him and for once she isn't bothered by her response when he quirks his lips in return._

_"Thank you. Ms. Campbell." He takes his leave and Serena watches him, thinking that she'll probably need another glass of wine tonight just to cope with the maelstrom of emotions the man leaves in his wake._

_**So, Nottingham 'eh?**_


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Not quite sure what went wrong with the formatting of the previous chapter, hopefully this one will play nicely. Apologies also for the slight delay, I had meant to update this by Wednesday but I've been languishing on this side of useless, struck down by a migraine, the worst of it is gone now thankfully. **

**I tried to update last night but wasn't having any of it, not sure if it is just me who had this trouble but apologies, better late than never 'eh. **

**A bit of background info in this chapter (I couldn't find much about Serena's character online so I've made bits up, please point out any mistakes though!) hopefully leading us neatly onto the events of the next chapter and beyond!**

**Usual disclaimers apply and reviews most welcome (they make my day!)**

Chapter 4.

"Mum!"

Eleanor's voice reverberates around the house as she slams the front door and Serena, woken by the noise groans and pulls a pillow over her head in an attempt to block out the sound. She grimaces as her daughter bursts into her bedroom.

"Mum!"

"Don't shout." Thankfully her daughter quietens down when she catches sight of her mother still in bed. "What time is it?" She asks, her voice a little raspy as she sticks her head out from under the pillow.

"Erm... nine something?" She shrugs casually and Serena is glad that it isn't too late in the day. "Where's the car?" 'Good question' thinks Serena and she assumes that she must have got a taxi home if the car isn't outside the house.

"At work."

"Oh, ok. I'll put the kettle on." Eleanor disappears from the room and Serena collapses back onto the pillows. After a few more minutes, lured by the promise of coffee, Serena forces herself up and out of bed and swallows some tablets without waiting for a drink, relieved that her hangover isn't too bad.

As she is stood in the shower, it takes her a moment or two to recall exactly why she feels worse for wear this morning. As the evening's events come flooding back to her, she sticks her head under the spray of the water and curses.

"Oh hell."

* * *

It was the end of another week and for the second time in a month, Serena had the whole weekend off. Since Monday, she had once more been the acting CEO and Director of Surgery for the hospital while Hanssen had been away in Nottingham for the week on a conference.

She rather thought it had been a good week and it was certainly no co-incidence that the temporary removal of Henrik Hanssen played a part in that. The infuriating Swede, notable by his absence meant that Serena was able to complete her electives and her paperwork with relative ease, not having to worry about the man's unpredictability and machinations. It was good and she tried to ignore the voice which kept insisting that it was also quite boring without Hanssen making her blood boil.

Her week in charge had gone smoothly, there'd been a small incident in the E.D but that had been sorted relatively quickly and painlessly and on a whim, Serena had decided to visit Darwin on the way back, to see Ms. Naylor again, hoping to catch her in a better mood than the previous time she'd seen her.

Since she has last spoken to the younger consultant, Serena had heard through the grapevine that Jac and Nurse Maconie had split up and Serena imagines that the unpleasant end of that relationship had contributed to the terse answers she'd received when she had gone to find the woman just after Hanssen had returned. She cuts her musing short as she arrives on Darwin and asks one of the younger doctors for Ms. Naylor's whereabouts.

"What!" Serena isn't sure she heard the man correctly.

"She's in Japan." As he repeats his statement, she realises that she did hear it correctly.

"What is she doing there?" Even as she asks, Serena has a horrible feeling that she could guess the answer.

"Mr. Hanssen sent her some time last week for a placement." Serena tries not to let her eyes narrow at the mention of the Swede. Damn man.

"For how long?" Serena enquires, her spirits sinking.

"A month, maybe more? I don't know."

"Right." She should have guessed that Hanssen would pull something like this and with a sigh, Serena thanks Dr. Valentine before trudging off the ward and back to Keller for the rest of her shift, muttering to herself about about whether the man deliberately goes out of his way to annoy her, he would know that Serena would want to talk to Jac about Stockholm.

She had done one final hernia operation for the day and checked on her other patients before ensconcing herself in the office in an attempt to finish off the final few pieces of paperwork which needed her attention before she left for the weekend, trusting that Chantelle would get her if there was a problem.

She'd been looking forward all week to leaving the hospital on Friday and having a girls night in with her daughter, snuggled up on the sofa under a duvet and watching a couple of films, eating copious amounts of chocolate with a glass or two of wine.

Until her phone had beeped.

"Ugh, typical." Serena didn't have to be looking up to know that Ric was curious. "My daughter but nothing important." She sees Ric nod and return his focus back to his own work. Eleanor had text her to say she was staying at a friend's house tonight so could their plans be delayed until tomorrow. As uninviting as an empty house could be, it did mean that Serena would be able to have a long bath without interruptions and she decides to call it a night.

"Right. I'm off, have a good weekend." Ric returns her sentiments as Serena gathers her things together to go home to her house and she had made it as far as the hospital foyer when an arm had suddenly wrapped itself around her waist and she'd been ready to deliver a sharp punch to the solar plexus of her would-be attacker until she realised who it was; she should have known, no-one else would have the temerity to grab her like that.

"Michael!" She warns the American that she is sometimes surprised to call a friend, "put me down." She is relieved when he obliges with a grin. He has a silly smile on his face and Serena wonders if he is suffering from side effects of having spent too much time with Sacha on AAU, the grin is uncanny.

"Surely you aren't too important these days to have a drink with me?" Serena debates declining but realises that she doesn't need to rush home and agrees to _a_ drink, making it clear that one drink was her limit.

* * *

"The usual, please." Serena smiles politely at Albie as she places her order and takes a seat at the bar next to Michael. "So what's the occasion?"

Michael takes a mouthful of his drink, shrugs and enquires, "do you ever have 'one of those days'?"

"Far too often." She laughs deprecatingly before adding, "usually Mr. Hanssen is involved somehow but he's not here so come on, spill." She takes a sip of her wine, trying not to frown as Michael finishes his drink and calls for a second drink for both of them.

"You got a new F1?"

"Ric has. Apparently I have _enough on my plate_." She is secretly quite relieved, she _does_ have a lot on her plate with her new role as Hanssen's 'sidekick' and she's never quite managed to be openly supportive enough to be a suitable mentor to a junior doctor. Michael seems to see through her answer.

"You can't be any worse than Jac."

"Thanks." Serena drawls, unsure whether she is meant to be pleased or offended by Michael's throwaway comment and picks up her second drink.

"Ugh, anyway, I did get one." Michael begins to tell Serena about his new F1 and the way that her first day fell apart.

"Photos?" Serena asks nervously, not entirely certain that she wants to know what _sort_ of photos they are. In response, Michael gets out his phone and shows her a photo of 'Dr. Honey' before replacing it back in his pocket.

"And you have these photos saved on your phone, why?" She fixes Michael with a suspicious stare and she smirks when he mumbles something unintelligible into his drink. She files the information away for later use and takes a large sip of her wine.

"You know, Serena, I know absolutely nothing about you." Serena merely raises an eyebrow, choosing to remain silent and wondering where Michael is going with this. She has always preferred to keep her personal and professional lives as separate as possible. "Got any children?"

"One." 'As if you don't know' Serena thinks and answers cautiously, she still cringes whenever she thinks about her daughter's drunken foray onto Keller several months ago. She'd been more embarrassed then than when Hanssen had so unceremoniously dumped her out of her own operation a couple of weeks ago.

"Boy? Girl?" He asks again and Serena relaxes a little, it's clear that news of her night from hell didn't make it as far as AAU.

"Daughter. Eleanor, she's sixteen." 'Who very nearly didn't live to see her last birthday' when Serena finally saw the state of her house after that party her daughter had hosted.

"Always an interesting age." They lapse into silence for a few minutes until Michael ignores her protests and orders another drink for them both and Serena huffs, resigning herself to a taxi home.

"So, you married?" Serena fixes him with a stare. "What?"

"Michael, this better not be some attempt at-"

"Hell no!" She can see that his reaction is genuine, he's never really been able to hide anything from her and relieved, she raises a hand in apology. "Besides, I couldn't put up with your bossiness!" She imagines that she should probably be offended by Michael's response but Serena can't help but smirk, she blames the alcohol.

"So?" She frowns for a moment until she recalls his question and her amusement fades.

"Divorced." She answers tersely and Serena hopes she doesn't sound as bitter as she feels. The end of her marriage is a subject that she isn't totally at ease with.

Her ex-husband had little if any inclination or ability to control his emotions. It's what drew her to him in the first place and when things were going well, he was fiery and passionate and their relationship thrived. When he lost his job and was unable to find another immediately, things got steadily worse and the emotions became more negative.

The desire to avoid repeating the final year of her marriage is what has led her to avoid any sort of affair or relationship since. It would be just her luck that the first man she has noticed as actually being male is the calm, collected and mostly unflappable Henrik Hanssen. Then again, she considers, she probably craves that calmness subconsciously and that is why he has caught her attention.

In fact, it is probably a blessing in disguise that it is Hanssen and not someone else that has caught her eye. The probability of their relationship being anything other than a professional one is so small that she is safe to work through her feelings and this madness will run its course and she can move on without him being any the wiser.

"Sorry?" Serena belatedly realises that Michael had asked her a question but she didn't catch it.

"So there's no Mr. Campbell but are you seeing anyone?"

"No." She rolls her eyes and answers as if she is bored of the questions rather than slightly nervous.

"You mean that no-one has caught your eye?" She has to think carefully about how to reply to this question, although Michael wouldn't necessarily pick up on her lie, he'd realise something wasn't quite right. To buy her a moment or two she assumes an expression of minor disbelief.

"And just when am I meant to do this? I have no time out of work and at work my choice comes down to Ric, you or Hanssen..." She lets the sentence trail off, its ending clear and waits for Michael's inevitable reaction and Serena watches as Michael jumps to the wrong conclusion without much encouragement. She muses for a moment that this kind of manipulation would never work on the Swede himself – he'd see right through it. "Quite the selection, wouldn't you say?"

"Hey!" She smiles at Michael's offended expression. "I kind of get you. I mean who would want to see what the Swede is hiding under those suits." Michael makes a faintly disgusted face and Serena can't quite suppress the traitorous voice which whispers 'I do'.

She can't help but recall how she has partially seen under the suit and how his skin had felt when she had run her fingers around his wound after he had been attacked and she had treated him in his office. A couple of times, Serena has idly wondered if that was the moment that he changed in her eyes, when he was proven to be all too human. She is saved from having to respond to Michael's comment as he asks her another question and Serena is relieved that he'd moved away from the topic of her personal life.

"So why has the boss man left you in charge this week?"

"He's on a conference." Serena informs him, staring at her hands distractedly avoiding Michael's looks. Her gaze moves suspiciously to Michael's face when he starts laughing and Serena smirks as he tells her about the stunt he pulled with his new F1 and how said F1 only found out that Hanssen was away several hours later by an out-of-office email reply.

"Where did you say this conference was?" Serena doesn't think that she did say where it was.

"Nottingham." Michael is silent a moment before a smirk makes its way onto his face as he comments.

"Hanssen sure is a dark horse," he pulls his phone out of his pocket, "I gotta tell Jac, she'd love it." He doesn't look too surprised when Serena tells him that Jac has been sent to Japan by Hanssen, Serena doesn't think that Michael knew Jac had gone but he doesn't seem surprised by the news.

"So _what_ is so special about Nottingham?" Serena asks, her impatience showing through. She had thought it an odd location at the time, when Hanssen had informed her of his attendance and Michael's reaction suggests that there is far more to the situation than Serena is aware of.

"Buy me a drink and I might be persuaded to tell you." Serena huffs in response, conveying her annoyance; she only wanted one glass of wine and it has turned into two or maybe three. She debates with herself for a moment, part of her wants to hear the gossip but she tells herself it's the hospital's best interests she is protecting, not indulging her attraction to Hanssen.

"Fine." She concedes and signals Albie for another couple of drinks.

She regrets it a few minutes later when Michael begins telling her about a Sahira Shah and how everyone was certain that there was more to the relationship between the registrar and the enigmatic Director of Surgery than colleagues. Serena is pretty sure Michael is exaggerating but even half that amount in a betting pool would be a substantial win.

"So why did she leave?"

"No-one really knows – I'd been banished to AAU by that point; must've been around the time you arrived here." He shrugs. "Her husband then turned up here to work, lasted about a month, things got heated and they disappeared off to Nottingham according to Jac." Serena isn't certain whether to be relieved or not by the news that the woman was married, the story sparked a flare of emotion that she can't quite identify. Thankfully Michael seems bored with the topic and moves on to his never-ending woe involving his ex-wife.

Serena decides to call it a night, not wanting to listen to this story again and bids Michael a good weekend as she makes a show out of checking her watch for the time. She rises slightly unsteadily, realising that she has drunk more than she intended to and heads towards the exit, catching her friend's uncoordinated wave out of the corner of her eye.

Making her way back out of Albie's into the cold late January night, Serena sees a waiting taxi and moves towards it, giving her address as she climbs into the back. Staring out of the window on the familiar route home, Serena sits upright suddenly as she identifies that flare of emotion as jealousy.

"Oh hell." She mumbles to herself, realising that it complicates the whole situation.

**AN2: Quick question... would you want to see Sahira return? It would only be for a chapter or two at most, just to stir things up. I dont' want her in the story any longer than that but you all may not want her there at all. Let me know. **


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Apologies, this update took a little longer than I meant it to, as have the others. I've had a heck of a week. I also seemed to try my best to cut off my left ring finger with a saw (long story and it wasn't on purpose), despite all the blood it's still attached but understandably it's made typing a little difficult. What a muppet 'eh?**

**Thank you for your feedback on the previous chapter, based on what you've said, I've shaped the next couple of chapters, hopefully they live up to the billing. :-)**

Serena made it to the Senior Consultant's regular Monday afternoon meeting with about a minute to spare. She had planned her electives so that she was in theatre all morning and didn't have to speak to Hanssen, to be reminded that he had spent the previous week in Nottingham and probably with _her_.

As tedious as strangulated hernias are, they were decidedly better an option than having to speak to the Swede – she'd sent him a long email over the weekend updating him about his week off just so that he wouldn't need to come and find her.

She had timed it so that she had to spend as little time as possible with the man, she figured that it would also aid her plan of getting over this ridiculous attraction to him if she kept her distance. She squares her shoulders, telling herself that she isn't jealous and hearing voices inside, she opens the door to the usual conference room, seeing Ric, Michael and Hanssen already in attendance and just in time to hear Michael's distinctive accent.

"So, how was Nottingham, Mr. Hanssen?" Michael winks at her as he catches sight of her and it unsettles her and she tries not to let it show, settling for a disapproving frown in response.

"Informative, thank you, Mr. Spence." Serena goes to shut the door behind her and narrowly misses hitting Elliot, who had followed her in unbeknownst to her.

"Did you speak to anyone interesting?" She asks the question, attempting to sound casual. She reckoned that she had to ask at least a token question and that they'd put her query down to her desire to strengthen her contacts rather than potential female jealousy.

"No-one that you would know, Ms. Campbell." Hanssen replies without missing a beat. Serena sees Michael shoot her an odd look as she sits herself next to Ric which she ignores. She doesn't quite know how Hanssen would be aware of who she knows or not but she lets the matter drop, deciding not to challenge his comment and draw any attention to the matter.

"Nottingham?" Elliot queries as he pours himself a glass of water. "Did you bump into Ms. Shah?" He asks and if Serena hadn't been watching Hanssen closely, she probably would have missed the momentary pause in his writing when Elliot mentioned the woman's name.

"It was a GS conference, Mr. Hope. Hardly Ms. Shah's area of expertise." That surprised Serena, she had assumed that Hanssen's apparent wonder woman was also a GS surgeon. She makes a mental note to find out what Ms. Shah's 'area of expertise' is. "Now, if we're quite done?" Hanssen sidesteps the questions neatly and Serena realises he hasn't actually given any answers.

The meeting drags on and Serena has long stopped paying any attention, figuring that if there is something important, Hanssen will call her out of her trance. One of the other consultant's pager had gone off about fifteen minutes earlier and he'd made his escape, Serena had tracked the man as he left, wondering if she could sneakily text Chantelle and get the nurse to page her. Serena knows that Elliot's presentation will be posted on the intranet at some point and she can read the salient points at her leisure.

Her mind is apparently too busy trying its best to make her jealous and torment her for her to take in any information. She tells herself again that 'it may just be a co-incidence that the conference was in Nottingham'. 'Then again', her mind supplies, 'if Hanssen and this Ms. Shah are half as close as Michael implied, then surely he would have sought her out?'

Serena exhales in frustration, telling herself that 'it doesn't matter anyway'. She has no claim on Hanssen and she reminds herself that she doesn't want a claim on Hanssen – the man is welcome to seek out and sleep with who he wants. She consciously ignores the reaction _that_ thought generates.

"Something to add, Ms. Campbell?" Surprised, Serena looks up to meets Hanssen's gaze, panicking that she might have said that last bit out loud, she looks around the table and is relieved to see that Michael looks as bored as she feels. He would have been laughing from one side of his face to the other if she had and Serena hopes that it was the way she sighed that caught Hanssen's attention.

"No, no, sorry." She gestures at Elliot to continue and as he obliges, she meets Hanssen's frown and promptly looks away, hoping that she hasn't started blushing. After a while staring at her hands, Serena finds her eyes back on Hanssen, she looks at him, trying not to think about his trip to Nottingham.

Hanssen obviously senses that he is being watched and his gaze locks onto hers and she can feel her heart rate increase a little. Looking at her curiously, he raises an eyebrow and Serena reacts by averting her gaze again, wanting the ground to swallow her up. The man effortlessly makes her feel like she is sixteen rather than forty six and she would love just a day when she doesn't feel like a fool in his presence.

Thankfully the meeting ends a few minutes later and Serena is all too ready to escape from the room but her plan is thwarted.

"Ah, Ms. Campbell, if I could have a word." Serena stops in her tracks and steps to the side so that Michael can pass by her on his way back to AAU.

She recalls that the last time Hanssen called her back after a consultant's meeting; it was to demote her to AAU and she wonders if he is about to do the same. She considers the alternative: that he wants to talk about why she was so distracted in the meeting and suddenly AAU seems less unappealing than before.

"Well..." She glances at Ric, wanting his help to escape, who shrugs casually and smiles.

"Take as long as you want – I've got Keller sorted." 'Traitor' she glares at him as he leaves with Elliot. When he shuts the door behind him, Serena turns and is suddenly very conscious of the fact that it's just the two of them alone in the room.

He sighs and leans forward in his seat, gesturing at her to sit down. Serena declines, preferring to remain standing in the hope that it will shorten this impromptu meeting. She watches him shrug and rearrange his pens.

"Mr. Hanssen?" She prompts, not wanting to draw this out any longer than she has to.

"I am concerned that in Ms. Naylor's absence, Mr. Hope is unable to dedicate the appropriate amount of time necessary for the sole responsibility of running Darwin ward, in addition to his Professorship, his commitments at St. James', the time and guidance his own students require as well as the temporary acquisition of Ms. Naylor's students and his own personal research."

"Hertzig?" Serena hazards a guess.

"Indeed."

"So what do you want to do about it?" She resists the urge to sigh, getting answers out of Hanssen is a painful process at times.

"I propose that we appoint an acting consultant to take some of the strain off Mr. Hope." Serena can see the logic of such a suggestion; if she had been aware of Elliot's struggles, she would have suggested the same kind of thing. There is just the case of who would be capable of stepping up to the challenge.

"Good idea, I'm not certain however, that Ms. Effanga would be-"

"I would prefer an external candidate in order to offset the staff shortages that Ms. Naylor's absence has created." Serena resists the urge to remind Hanssen that it was his meddling which sent Jac to Japan and created the situation in the first place. "I have emailed the details of my preferred candidate to you."

"I see." Serena asks, thinking back, she thought she had heard her email ping just before she left her office to attend the meeting and she is beginning to associate that sound with some inevitable annoyance caused by the Swede. "Are they aware of their candidacy of this temporary position?"

"They are." Hanssen responds, giving nothing away. "You will need to plan your work accordingly. Obviously I will require your thoughts and response on the candidate sooner rather than later, Ms. Campbell."

"Of course, Mr. Hanssen." She fixes a polite smile to her face, he'd been doing so well until that last little dig. She reminds herself that this is what she needs him to do so that she can move on, she needs to associate the man with anger and negative emotions and not how she currently frustratedly looks at him. No doubt that she'll look back at this infatuation in years to come and will laugh about it all. However, in general she is relieved at how this meeting has gone and decides to make her escape before Hanssen can demote her back to AAU or call her up on her inattention.

"I'd best get started _planning my work accordingly_. If you'll excuse me." He inclines his head in response and Serena stalks out, leaving Hanssen gathering his papers together. Her musings of throttling the man are cut short when she realises she isn't alone in the fifth floor corridor.

"Michael," she spots the American a little further along the corridor, obviously waiting for her, "why are you lurking?" She frowns, certain that he was eavesdropping on their conversation.

"So what was all that about?" He asks, pushing himself away from the wall and following her down the corridor, past Hanssen's office and towards the lift and stairs.

"It wasn't really about anything," Serena comments, "it's just power plays and politics with that man."

"Ah, of course it is." She looks at her friend with an expression which says clearly enough, 'what else would it be?' He ignores her look.

"Well, good luck with that." He claps her on the shoulder a little harder than she is comfortable with and she tries not to wince. "For what it's worth, in my experience, the woman always wins." Serena smirks in response and heads in the other direction, away from Michael and towards Keller, neither of them seeing Hanssen in the corridor behind, having followed her out of the conference room and pausing by his office door as he listens to their conversation.

* * *

Serena enters the Keller consultant's office, feeling pretty good and thinking that today has gone rather well all things considered. It will be one of the first days since Hanssen's return that she doesn't feel the need to have a glass of wine after work in an attempt to get the enigmatic man off her mind.

"What?" She shoots a suspicious look at Ric who is looking at her curiously.

"You look far too happy, Henrik is losing his touch if you're not cursing him by now." She makes a face at him which dissolves into an amused smile as she waits for her emails to load.

She has one from Hanssen, as expected about the consultant's position, one from Terrance Cunningham which isn't entirely unexpected – he wants an update and Serena decides that he can wait, but the majority of the emails clogging up her inbox are pointless and she ruthlessly deletes them.

As she does so, another one from Hanssen appears at the top of her inbox and she selects this one first and slumps her shoulders – her good mood vanishing. "Argh, that man!"

"What has he done now?" She sees Ric warily look at her out of the corner of her eye.

"He's given me the dubious pleasure of writing a mixed management report on the key wards." The office door opens just as Serena moves onto the next part of Hanssen's email and Malick stands in the doorway for a moment before wordlessly deciding to retreat as she lets loose a string of curses, which, forty six or not, if her mother heard her, she'd get her mouth washed out with soap. "And he wants this by tomorrow! Ric, is it murder if they don't find a body?"

She rests her head on her desk for a moment in defeat and aims a rude gesture at Ric when she hears him, annoyed by his laughing reply, "that's much more like it." She will have that glass of wine when she gets home.

Then Serena curses to herself again as she realises that she has this blessed report to do and won't be able to drink, alcohol-aided reports are found wanting at director level. She is going to kill the man by the end of the month if he keeps this up. Perhaps she will have that wine anyway and get up early to do the report.

Her mood is not improved when she opens the attached document from Hanssen's email about the Consultant candidate.

_Sahira Shah_

Of course. Serena downloads and prints off a copy of Ms. Shah's CV determined to find a reason to say no and grudgingly admits that for a 36 year old, it makes quite impressive reading. The woman _would_ be an asset to Darwin until Ms. Naylor's return.

Serena wonders how Hanssen and Ms. Shah met and she calls up Hanssen's CV – something she acquired before making the decision to join Holby, a very useful document to have – and compares them. Holby was the third, no the fourth hospital they've worked together at. She feels her spirits sink and tries to remind herself that she isn't jealous or competing with this woman, she has no claim on Hanssen.

Serena reads the CV again from the start and sees that Hanssen was the woman's mentor back in London and she feels a flicker of hope that that is all their relationship is, the older teacher in love with the younger student is far too much of a cliché to apply to Hanssen. Not only that, but it would require a heart, something that Serena isn't entirely sure Hanssen possesses.

Either way, Serena does not like Sahira Shah already.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I had a ball writing this, I hope you enjoy it just as much.**

**The last bit isn't so fun but it is necessary in order to have some kind of plot progression. I also think that in the next chapter we will meet Sahira (again). Evil laugh. Good shout 'Hi-World' - I'd forgotten all about her cupcake obsession!**

Chapter 6.

"Mr. Hanssen," Serena drawls, glad to finally have something to catch him out on. "You neglected to mention that you had worked with Ms. Shah several times before." She leans back in her chair in the CEO's office, she still can't quite think of it as _his_ without it smarting, although it is becoming more of a dull ache than the original flaring sense of injustice it had generated.

'Serena 1, Hanssen 0' she thinks to herself as he remains silent. His eyes had widened momentarily and Serena realises that for once, he has underestimated her. She is going to enjoy this.

"It's hardly a crime to have worked with someone before, Mr. Hanssen." She smirks to herself and decides to press her advantage, relishing the rarity of the current situation. "It's just that in the interests of transparency-"

"If you feel that the process has not been correctly observed," Hanssen finally finds his voice, "why did you not lodge as objection as is your right and your wont?" Serena is about to respond to his cheap shot and push her advantage when she is interrupted by a knock at the door, followed by the sound of it opening behind her. Serena elects to observe Hanssen's reaction to the visitor instead of turning around.

"Henrik, just wanted to check we're still on for lunch?" Her jaw clenches as his expression visibly softens and he openly smiles in response to the female voice. Serena assumes this is the _famous_ Sahira Shah and can't bring herself to turn around to greet the woman.

"Of course, one o'clock, Ms. Shah," Serena glances at her watch out of habit.

_12:38_

She wishes she hadn't heard that exchange, now she'll spend the next few hours wondering what happened at this lunch and winding herself up and by extension anyone else she comes into contact with. Serena hopes that Ric will realise something isn't right and will perform damage limitation and buffering duties without asking any questions. Her spirits sink at the thought of Ric – they aren't on speaking terms after the debacle with her mother yesterday. She's on her own.

The fates are conspiring against her, Serena muses the whole situation is so unfair; she never asked for this attraction to Hanssen and if she could have picked anyone, it... she stops, Friday's conversation in Albie's with Michael coming back to her.

If she could have picked anyone, it would have been Henrik Hanssen.

Hell, she wants him. She doesn't want Sahira Shah to have him. She pinches the bridge of her nose, hoping the casual action masks the chaotic thoughts flying around her head.

Serena is aware of the office door shutting again and she figures that Ms. Shah has left the room, not wanting to remain in Hanssen's company for much longer, she is infinitely grateful when her pager begins to beep.

"If you'll excuse me," Serena stands up quickly, not wanting to wait for Hanssen to dismiss her and she staggers slightly, realising that she hasn't eaten. "I-" She feels quite light-headed which becomes worse as she attempts to take a step and she is vaguely aware of the familiar office carpet rushing up to meet her.

Her eyes open suddenly as she lands and she jerks as she realises that thankfully she isn't in Hanssen's office with the Swede looming over her, nor has she been admitted to a ward. She is in her bedroom and her alarm clock is beeping. She turns the alarm off and collapses back into her pillows, spending a couple of minutes getting her breath back and regaining her composure.

* * *

Serena enters the familiar Keller Consultant's office and places one of the coffees she'd picked up onto Ric's desk. Her colleague looks up briefly from his laptop to the paper cup before returning his gaze to the computer screen without a word.

"Ric," Serena says exasperatedly – she wants to fix the situation that she created when her mother was admitted the day before. "Please." She doesn't want to resort to begging for his forgiveness, she isn't sure that her pride would allow that to happen. Serena watches him closely, sees him stop typing and sigh before looking up at her with a guarded expression.

"It was an illuminating experience," he eventually remarks, still making no move to acknowledge her offering of coffee and Serena watches him lean back in his chair and regard her. Serena's spirits sink at the thought that he thinks so little of her.

"I didn't mean to be so..." She gestures with one hand, careful not to spill her drink, not quite sure what word to use. "I was-"

"Worried? Uncertain? Emotional? Perfectly normal human responses," Serena opens her mouth to tell him that she should know better, she's trained to respond better but Ric's look stops her and she closes her mouth again, feeling every inch like a schoolgirl summoned to a teacher's office about her recent conduct.

"_That_ was what was so illuminating." She frowns, not quite sure what Ric means. "Yes, you're Wonder Woman, everyone here knows it but I'm pretty sure that Wonder Woman was human too. I'll admit that it stung, the way it seemed like you don't trust any of us and that isn't a good impression to give as second in command."

"Ric-" He waves away her apology before she can issue it. She also suspects that telling him that Wonder Woman wasn't actually human is somewhat missing his point.

"Besides, your mother had some interesting things to say, 'Rena." He adds as Serena sits back down at her desk, she glares at him, her mother is the only one who calls her that and after forty years of nagging, she still hasn't broken the habit and Serena has rather given up trying to convince her otherwise.

"Don't call me that, Ric."

"You'll have to be nice to me or I might just forget," he teases her and Serena tries to look unimpressed but her relief that she and Ric seem to be back on speaking terms is too great and she ends up with a small smile.

"Don't push your luck, Mr. Griffin." Serena jokingly warns him, lips quirked in response to his grin as he looks back at his laptop.

"There is one thing which worked out for you yesterday," Ric breaks the comfortable silence a little while later without looking up and Serena is almost afraid to ask what it was. He makes her wait a few moments longer by taking a couple of mouthfuls of his recently acquired drink. "Mrs. McKinnie had the most _interesting_ opinions on several members of staff."

Serena groans to herself, "Ric, I am so sorry-" He waves away her second apology of the day.

"I've heard worse. However, it is probably for the best that _I_ was the on-call consultant for Keller rather than our esteemed leader, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh God." Serena doesn't want to imagine the damage that would have been caused had Mr. Hanssen been her mother's consultant, she racks her brains, desperately trying to recall what she has told her mother about the Swede. "Can you imagine?"

Serena's stunned eyes meet Ric's amused gaze before both crumble and dissolve into sniggers

* * *

Later on in the afternoon, both consultants are back in the office, ploughing through the never-ending piles of paperwork. Serena isn't due back in theatre until tomorrow, she still has this report to complete for Hanssen which she wants to hand in this evening and go home, have an early night and forget all about it until tomorrow morning.

Serena doesn't pay much attention when the office door opens, her focus still on the pages of data in front of her but she recognises Chantelle's voice.

"Ah, there you are. Mr. Hanssen is looking for you. I'll go and tell him you're in here." By the time that Serena has looked up, all she sees is the door closing again. Her shoulders slump and she looks to Ric for help, he shrugs.

"You're certainly popular with him..." Ric's voice trails off and Serena is immediately suspicious of the way that he is looking at her. "You never know, maybe he _likes_ you?" The teasing comment hits a little too close for comfort for Serena but she reacts as she knows Ric would expect her to.

"Ric, you can take that comment and stick it right up-"

"Ms. Campbell?" Asks an all too familiar voice, however she has a feeling that Hanssen might be amused. She turns to look at him, dimly aware that he has shut the office door behind him, leaving her instruction to Ric unfinished.

"And as for you, can you please stop harassing me?" She glares at Hanssen who just looks confused. "I know this report was due yesterday but I told you I would have it for you by this evening so will you please just let me get on with it?" She snaps her mouth shut, not meaning to voice her thoughts quite like that.

"By all means, Ms. Campbell." Hanssen waits until he is sure her outburst is over. Her stomach drops as his lips quirk. "I'm looking forward to reading it this evening, however, it is Mr. Griffin that I am here to _harass_. You are quite safe."

"Oh." 'Oh God'. Serena doesn't dare look at Ric and she is certain that she is bright red in embarrassment. "I see."

'Kill me now', she thinks.

"Indeed," Hanssen replies and Serena just wants the ground to swallow her up, never to be seen again. "If you wouldn't mind giving us a couple of minutes? I will of course allow for a submission delay of a few minutes if-"

"Alright, alright." She knows when she is well and truly beaten and Serena can see no way to salvage this situation and decides that damage limitation and a strategic retreat are her best options.

Out on the ward, Serena checks on her patients, relieved that today has been routine without any complications. Someone would have died, she grimaces to herself at the unfortunate turn of phrase considering that she would likely have been their Doctor. She shakes her head, her thoughts are turning delirious with tedium. She obviously needs more alcohol.

Disinfecting her hands as she moves away from the final bed, her mind drifts back to Hanssen Serena desperately wants to wallop that smirk off his face and have him pin her to something and kiss her at the same time. She sighs, realising that she is well and truly stuffed.

"Everything alright, Ms. Campbell?" She hears Chantelle ask her as she returns to the nurses' station.

"The man in that office is doing my head in." She mutters just loud enough for the nurse to hear, safe in the knowledge that her comments won't be repeated.

"Is he being like an excitable labrador?" Serena fixes Chantelle with a sharp look, until she realises that the blonde nurse is teasing her. She exhales, not sure whether to laugh or cry and looks back down at the folder in her hands.

"Actually, it's the other one." She confesses.

"Oh, your Mum didn't mention anything about Mr. Hanssen." Serena remains silent and pretends she didn't hear the comment. She is surprised when a chocolate muffin suddenly appears on the folder in her hands and she looks up in askance. "My mum says they're good if you're stressed."

"Oh, does she?" She can see the blonde nurse nods enthusiastically out of the corner of her eye, completely missing Serena's sarcasm and absent-mindedly, Serena is glad that she found the time last week to get her hair cut – it had been starting to get on her nerves.

'Oh, what the hell', she thinks, 'there's no alcohol allowed on the ward but no rules against chocolate and that's close enough', and she picks up the muffin, thanking Chantelle.

"Yo, Channers, Mrs. C." Serena looks up to see Malick stood next to Chantelle and she nods politely in response to his greeting. "Either of you seen Slick Ric around?"

"Slick Ric?" Serena queries, wondering with amusement what on earth possessed Malick to refer to him like that.

"It's what the porters call him, apparently." He shrugs casually. Serena grins, sensing an opportunity for revenge, if 'Slick Ric' dares call her 'Rena again...

"Mr. Malick – I could kiss you – you have just made my day." Her grin becomes more pronounced when Malick backs away slightly, looking a little wary. Before she can elaborate, she catches sight of a tall, dark-suited figure leaving the ward and Serena swallows, feeling the now-familiar butterflies. She watches Hanssen glide away, ignoring the voice that is telling her to stop staring at the man.

"I'll tell you later," she says and takes the opportunity to dive back into her office to confront 'Slick Ric', leaving a confused Registrar and nurse behind her.

"Well?" Serena asks as soon as she steps in the door, "what did he want?" Ric looks up with an innocent expression on his face.

"Why? Got a guilty conscience?" She makes a face in response as she shuts the office door behind her.

"Ric..." She uses her best 'mother' tone and her friend sighs in defeat.

"Alright. We were actually talking about your paranoia and how you like to jump to conclusions."

"What!" She looks around at the door, hoping that her outburst hadn't been heard on the ward and nearly dropping her muffin. She huffs at hearing Ric's laughter.

"He has a couple of the professors from the University over and he wanted to know if they could observe my three o'clock slot." Serena frowns, she can't detect any deception in Ric's words.

"And that meant I had to leave the room?" She doesn't understand what goes through that man's head at times.

"Apparently so," Ric offers with a shrug.

* * *

"Did your crowd behave themselves?" Serena is still sat at her desk when Ric returns from his operation later that afternoon. Judging by his relaxed gait, the operation was a success and Serena uses her greeting as an opportunity to see if he was telling the truth about the university group earlier.

"They did indeed." She has a couple of discarded coffee cups on her desk which Ric throws away for her as he passes her desk on his way back to his own..

"Thank you, Slick Ric." She grins and she enjoys Ric's resigned expression.

"I suppose calling you 'Rena is off the cards now you've heard that one." He offers lightly, "who do I have to thank for informing you of that name?"

"It had better be." She returns in kind. "And that would be telling."

She saves the document, glad that this report is finally over. It was only 48 hours ago that she received the email informing her of it but with the events of yesterday, it feels like much longer. Waiting for the printer to spew out the required two copies, she stretches and listens to her shoulders pop.

"I'm off to see the Wizard, send a search party if I don't come back in ten minutes." She catches sight of Ric's raised hand in acknowledgement as she sails out of the office door on her way to the fifth floor.

She knocks and enters the office when she hears him call out. Closing the door behind her, she opens her mouth to inform him that she has the report but closes her mouth when he is not at his desk, she turns around but finds the table at the back of his office also vacant. After a moment, she manages to locate him, a familiar silhouette against the window.

"Mr. Hanssen?" She prompts as she moves across the carpet towards him, "is everything alright?" She finds herself recalling the day she treated him and despite all the aggravation he has caused her since his return, she doesn't wants him to be hurt.

"I find myself wondering about Mr. Hope," he sighs, "in light of the complaint against him."

"Complaint?" Serena hasn't heard of any complaint against a senior consultant and she should have been informed. "Why wasn't I-"

"You were with your mother." He turns around and Serena takes a step back, realising how close she was. "Either way, the matter is irrelevant, the complaint was dropped, some crossed wires, it transpires." He falls silent again, looking at her and Serena swallows nervously.

"I see..." The two of them stare at the other and Serena is certain that Hanssen will be able to hear her elevated heart rate. Just as she begins to wonder what he is going to do, whether he might kiss her, Hanssen looks away and breaks the silence.

"How is your mother?"

Only later, when she is suitably removed from the incident, does Serena realise that it isn't a question of disdain on his part, rather an awkward attempt at a personal question. His posture was not one of superiority but of a slightly uncomfortable but concerned colleague but in the heat of the moment, she misreads him and it generates an angry response in her.

"Oh, I suppose you would have reacted far better than I did if your mother was unexpectedly admitted." He flinches as if she had slapped him.

"That situation would not arise."

"Of course it wouldn't, Mr. Hanssen. You're obviously above such petty emotions as love and caring for a family member." He visibly tenses and Serena doesn't know why she wants to see some kind of a reaction from him. There's no response and she shakes her head and goes to leave, placing the reports on his desk.

"One final thing, Ms. Campbell." He gets her attention with a flat voice and she stops just in front of the door. "In light of Mr. Hope's complaint, Ms. Shah will start tomorrow instead of next week, I will expect you to treat _her_ appropriately."

She is careful to close the door a little louder than she knows he would like but still not too loud to be called up on. Swallowing angry sobs, Serena heads down the corridor, past the lifts to the stairwell. She huffs as she angrily swipes at the tears which are blurring her vision. She didn't mean what she said to Hanssen but can't swallow her pride to bring herself to go back and apologise.

Thoroughly fed up with Hanssen, the hospital, the unresolved situation with her mother and the inevitable meeting with Ms. Shah. She doesn't want Sahira Shah here. Most of all, the situation with her mother has completely upset her emotional balance.

Serena rests her back against the wall, closes her eyes, taking a deep breath trying not to let it audibly catch and reveal her fragile control over her emotions as she tries to work out what to do next. In the end Serena had texted Ms. Naylor as she made her way back to Keller, just in case Ric did decide to come looking for her.

_There's a temporary replacement for you on Darwin,I believe you know her: Sahira Shah._

Despite the time difference between England and Japan, Jac's reply arrived only a minute or so later and gives Serena a flicker of hope.

_I'll be back as soon as I can._

**So far Serena has pretty much been on the back foot in this story; from the next chapter onwards, she gets her game face back on and starts to even the score on her way to getting what she wants. Although she does have to apologise first...!**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Sorry about the length of time between updates, there's quite a lot going on in this chapter and I had to rewrite a couple of bits. It's quite a long chapter but there are a couple of bits which I needed to get out of the way, we'll also be returning to some bits later so I hope you're paying attention :-)**

**I also couldn't make the meeting between Sahira and Serena into Scalpels at dawn without it sounding laboured but this is what I've come up with. There's a little indirect violence in the next chapter. **

**Usual disclaimers apply. Let me know what you think and thank you to everyone who had reviewed so far :-D You're all amazing.**

* * *

Chapter 7.

Serena had sent Jac another text message, asking what had happened in Stockholm but received no reply. She sits on her sofa and huffs in frustrated annoyance after checking her phone again; Serena had sent the message nearly three hours ago and still nothing and she doesn't like being ignored.

"I can hear you sighing from the kitchen, Mum – it's off-putting!" Her daughter, Eleanor, sticks her head around the door and Serena looks up, feeling too tired to be bothered by the tone her daughter is using.

"Sorry," she sighs again and Eleanor disappears back into the kitchen to do her coursework that is more than likely due in tomorrow. As much as she'd felt she should, Serena couldn't really tell her off for her delaying tactics – she had been exactly the same in school.

She's closed her eyes, wondering if it is too early to go to bed and after cracking open an eye to check the time, she decides it is. She isn't particularly tired and her mind has been full of Hanssen since she left his office in such a snit earlier and she doesn't want to start thinking about him when she is lying awake in bed, too much of a slippery slope and she'd rather avoid it if she can.

A few moments later, she hears padded footsteps return from the kitchen and stop next to her and the sofa dips slightly, she opens an eye to see her daughter sat next to her with a glass of wine, "you sound like you need it, Mum." Serena opens her second eye and frowns at the offered glass.

"You make me sound like some kind of alcoholic," she comments, taking the glass anyway, resting it on her knee and closing her eyes again. Showing her daughter a slightly more relaxed version of her, one that she would never show to anyone at work.

"Hello, my name is 'Rena, I am an alcoholic and it's been two minutes since my last drink." Serena opens her eyes at the unflattering impersonation and jabs her daughter in the ribs in response.

"Seriously though, is everything alright, Mum?" Serena raises an eyebrow and Eleanor continues with her observations. "You seem more stressed than when you were running the place and isn't just Grandma, is it...?" She curses silently, 'of all the times for Eleanor to become perceptive'.

In response, Serena swaps the glass to her left hand and places her right arm around her daughter, pressing a soft kiss into her hair; whilst she doesn't often engage in open physical displays of affection with her daughter, Serena figures that she can get away with it tonight without Eleanor reading anything untoward in it.

"The hospital is extremely busy at the moment, we're negotiating for several new grants and it's exhausting," she lies easily, tempering the statement with a bit of truth, "the situation with Grandma has come as a bit of a shock and a bad time. I lost my temper with Mr. Hanssen today and I'm waiting for his response."

"Mr. Hanssen... He's that tall guy?"

"The very same." Serena frowns, wondering when her daughter could have possibly seen Hanssen and asks her, silently hoping that she hadn't crossed paths with the stoic Swede the night she had stumbled onto the ward with Gabby.

"He was on the news a lot a few months ago." 'Of course', she thinks, taking a sip of wine, arm still around Eleanor's shoulders, 'not long after he'd been stabbed'. They fall silent and Serena hasn't got the heart to send Eleanor back out to do her work just yet. She can feel Eleanor staring at her and she turns to face her.

"I'm fine, it was just one of those days."

"Yeah, but you've had a few of those." Eleanor says knowingly and Serena smiles at the developing resemblance between mother and daughter.

"They happen and they pass – I'll be fine. Don't you have coursework to be doing anyway?" She sees Eleanor frown, opening her mouth and closing it again without saying anything, both knowing that her daughter has spotted the obvious topic change but resigned to her fate, she gets up and heads back towards the kitchen.

* * *

Serena gets into work a little earlier than she might normally but she had still slept relatively well considering the emotional turbulence of the previous day. Pulling up into her new car parking space, she notes that the Swede's black Volvo is already in its usual spot and she wonders if the man ever goes home. She looks across to it for a moment, still not entirely certain as to what she is going to say to its owner when she sees him.

She had made the decision to meet the challenge of the arrival of Ms. Shah head on, more than a bit fed up of Hanssen getting his own way all the time. Determined to be on top of her game and get her own way, she doesn't really notice the other staff on Keller avoiding her, briskly and efficiently performing ward rounds until Malick comes in later to take over the running of the ward.

Once completed, she dumps several files on the nurses' station to be filed and informs them that she'll be off the ward unless absolutely necessary and she pretends not to hear the collective sigh of relief as she makes her way to the office, if she is lucky, news of her renewed scariness will spread to the other wards. She is not going to go looking for Ms. Shah, Serena figures that it's Hanssen's job to introduce them.

Collapsing into her chair, she fires up her laptop, ready for the onslaught of the day's emails, she sees one from Hanssen already this morning and shakes her head, one from Cunningham last night which she ignores for the moment. The rest she scans and highlights the majority of them to delete without reading, enjoying the way her inbox clears, immediately looking less overwhelming.

She opens Hanssen's email tentatively, glad that there aren't any attachments but still wary enough, knowing better than to let her guard down when the man is concerned. To her relief there are no references to her outburst yesterday nor has he given her an impossible task deadline. Just a brief note that he's got a couple of one-day conferences and consultations with St. James' coming up and she copies the dates into her diary before deleting the email without a reply, figuring that his inbox must be worse than hers for pointless emails.

She moves onto to Cunningham's email with less wariness but still a bit of trepidation and is again relieved that there is nothing to be concerned about, the man wants an update and she sneers half-heartedly, the man always wants an update. Her email pings again just as she closes Cunningham's message, having decided the chairman can wait and Serena frowns at the sender's name of the latest email.

_Eleanor Campbell_

Serena's frown deepens as she reads the message, she's going out tonight with a new boyfriend and that 'Dad' has okayed it for her to stay with him for a few days. She feels blind-sided by her ex-husband and she roots around in her bag for her phone, ready to call Eleanor, stopping suddenly, mid-way through a colourful curse when she realised she wasn't alone in the office and she turns her head slightly to see Chantelle stood at the door. Swallowing her frustration, she'll deal with her daughter later, she sits up and faces the nurse.

"Yes, Chantelle?" If the nurse is perturbed by Serena's curt question, she doesn't show it.

"Err, Ms. Campbell. Mr. Griffin wants to see everyone in the staff room." Serena frowns at the unexpected summons. "He says it's urgent." With a last look at the email from her daughter, Serena closes the computer screen down and sighs as she follows the blonde nurse to the staffroom on Keller.

The two women enter the staffroom and Serena is surprised to see that they are the last to do so, the room is almost full; Ric is facing the staff with Malick at his side, the two consultants make eye contact briefly and Ric nods almost imperceptibly at her. She frowns at the set-up and realises that whatever this is about, it is obviously quite important and she is a little annoyed that she hasn't been told beforehand, 'as Executive Director of Surgery...'

"We've just received word on a major accident on the Holby Ring Road." Ric's opening sentence cuts her musing short and she listens, dimly noting that she won't get any paperwork done today if this RTA is serious enough for all the staff to be briefed in this manner. "A lorry appears to have collided with a coach and an unknown number of cars have been caught up in the incident." Ric pauses for a moment until the murmuring has died down.

"ED have set up a triage tent in the car park for minor injuries, anything more serious is likely to go to AAU or directly to us or Darwin. All electives have been cancelled." Serena rolls her eyes but remains silent, in some ways, the day's inevitable business will provide a good distraction from the situation with Hanssen.

Ric carries on outlining the plan for the ward to deal with the incoming influx of patients before dismissing the staff, Serena waits behind and after a few moments, it is only her, Malick and Ric left in the room. Between them, they agree a rotation system for being on the ward or in theatre.

"Looks like you've gotten yourself a field promotion, Mr. Malick." Serena remarks as they leave the room together.

"Bring it on. The Malick can handle it." Malick confidently replies and Serena smirks as she shares an amused look with Ric as the younger doctor strides away and they catch up with Malick at the nurses' station.

"The big cheese himself." Malick comments quietly and Serena automatically looks up, the familiar dark suit and graceful gait a give-away. Serena's gaze doesn't leave him until he has come to stand next to her, joining their small group and then she can't look at him, choosing instead to stare at the floor. She notes that his shoes are well-polished and mentally shakes her head at the inane observation, making herself look up again. Hanssen is looking at her with a mostly blank expression but Serena gets the impression that there is a hint of curiosity behind it. He looks away first and addresses the small group.

"As you are no doubt aware, Major Accident protocol has been implemented. Are you happy with your staff's ability to cope Mr. Griffin?" Serena bristles a little that comment and possible insinuation but remains silent as Ric responds. She is aware of Hanssen's eyes on her again but she doesn't look at him and barely hears his next sentence. "Very well. Mr. Hope, Ms. Effanga and Ms. Shah have Darwin under control."

"Mr. Spence and Mr. Levy are in charge of AAU and I will head there shortly to assist." He informs them, Serena is certain that his tone is colder and more professional than usual but judging by the reaction of Malick and Ric, they haven't noticed anything untoward.

"Well, if that is all." Serena watches Hanssen nod to the three of them, seemingly confident at their ability and plans to handle the coming storm.

"Mr. Hanssen," Serena calls after him and he turns slightly, regarding her suspiciously. "Can I have a quick word? I-"

"Unfortunately, Ms. Campbell, I am needed on AAU." He brushes her off and glides off the ward and Serena huffs in frustration, watching him leave as she holds the door for the first patient to arrive directly on a gurney. She ignores Ric's look.

Serena had taken the first patient directly into theatre, Malick looked like he was about to ask if he could operate but a fierce glare from Serena stopped his request before he could make it. She was glad to have the opportunity to refocus, knowing that she owed it to the patient to have 100% concentration on the operation rather than on a particularly frustrating Swede.

Between Serena, Ric and Malick, they rotate between theatre and being on the ward and later Serena will think that it is just her luck that a call from Darwin needing a GS consult comes through when she is on the ward.

"Keller," Serena hears Chantelle answer the phone cheerfully, grudgingly impressed at the nurse's ability to do so, even after several hours of this madness, she doesn't really pay attention until she hears her name mentioned. "Err, Ms. Campbell is here if you want a word? Ok sure."

'It's Darwin' the nurse mouths as Serena picks up the handset, nodding her understanding.

"Yes?"

* * *

Serena leaves a message for Ric or Malick with Dr. Digby _and_ Chantelle just in case the F1 gets distracted and forgets to pass on the message, she heads up to Darwin on the sixth floor, using the stairs rather than waiting for a lift.

In the several hours of vaguely-organised chaos, since the RTA was reported, Serena has forgotten all about her inevitable meeting with Sahira Shah, their temporary CT Consultant. Serena steps out onto the green-themed ward and heads over to the nurses' station where she sees Elliot and she assumes that Darwin are using a similar rotation system as Keller. Elliot sees her and waves her over, ambling to meet her by the nurses' station. He is halfway through explaining their concerns about the integrity of a patient's spleen, wanting Serena on hand in theatre in case anything should happen necessitating GS intervention when a lady in green scrubs appears.

Serena's immediate response is to believe that the woman is a paramedic, but when she reads 'C.T.U' stitched onto the scrub top, she frowns, neither here or St. James' have a 'C.T.U', whatever that is and she files the question away for later, the patient her current priority.

"Oh, right, of course." Elliot blusters, glancing between the two women. "You've probably not met, err, this is Ms. Shah. Ms. Shah, this is Ms. Campbell-"

"Executive Director of Surgery," Serena adds to Elliot's introductions, fully aware that it isn't necessary to add her title but feeling the need to do so.

"I know," the woman responds lightly, "Henrik told me. Anyway, call me Sahira." She beams at Serena and Serena has to fight the urge to scowl. 'Henrik told me', a petulant voice in her head mocks the other woman, not wanting to know what else 'Henrik' had told her.

"Hmmm," Serena responds verbally, deliberately not offering her own name. "Which theatre are we in?"

"One." Elliot adds straight away.

"Right, get the patient prepped, get yourself scrubbed in. I'll be there in a minute." Serena instructs in a tone of voice which doesn't allow any room for argument and the younger woman obeys, heading off to the theatre. Serena picks up a phone and calls down to Keller to tell Ric that she'll need to be off Keller for the next couple of hours to deal with this particular patient.

By the time that Serena has hung up and reached the scrub room, Sahira is already in the theatre and waiting for her. The operation itself proceeds smoothly enough although the other woman is chattier than Serena would have liked but she quickly realises that she could use this to her advantage.

Keeping an eye on the monitors, displaying the patient's vitals, Serena tries to sound casual and asks when she last saw Hanssen away from the conference. "When I left in April. I do remember thinking it was odd when I didn't get a Christmas card from him but he must've just been busy here then." Serena offers a non-committal response, filing away the information that Hanssen doesn't appear to have told Sahira about his departure from the hospital.

"What about your relationship with Henrik?" Sahira asks and Serena takes her eyes off the monitor to look at the other consultant before answering.

"There is no relationship."

"I meant your working relationship. There are times I wonder if he has even noticed that half of the planet is inhabited by women." She clarifies lightly and Serena relaxes a little. "It's just he seemed a little odd when he mentioned you." She promptly tenses again in response to Sahira's words, scowling under her face mask.

"I can't think what we'd have to argue about, he is the most laid back man I've ever met." Serena responds sarcastically and it has the effect of making Sahira laugh which annoys her. She resists urge to snap out a petty comment, just in case Sahira is reporting back to Hanssen – she wouldn't put it past him pulling a stunt like that.

"Well, if he is sulking, don't get him a cupcake, he hates them," Serena rolls her eyes, "but he is secretly fond of the odd Mars Bar." Serena says nothing and returns her focus to watching the monitors, fed up of the woman's chatter and cursing her luck at being on the ward when the call came down from Darwin.

"Right, well, I'd say we're done here. I can leave you to close up," Serena tells Sahira, rather than asking her. "I need to get back to Keller." Without waiting for an answer, Serena turns and makes her way out of the theatre. Having discarded her operation smock, she is left in her scrubs and makes her way out onto the ward. Her eyes are immediately drawn to the presence of the Director of Surgery.

Hanssen is talking to Elliot and as soon as she appears, she can see his eyes flicker over to her and she sighs when she realises she can't seem to avoid him today.

* * *

Serena had made her way off Darwin and back to Keller, wanting to speak to Hanssen but not wanting to risk another public dismissal in front of the staff, especially not in front of Sahira Shah. She'd spent the next hour on the ward, while Malick and Ric were in theatre.

It's mid-afternoon before Malick returns to the ward and Serena takes the opportunity to grab some lunch, the influx of patients has slowed, the most serious dealt with already and with no electives, the rest of the shift is likely to be quite quiet. Serena picks up and sandwich and impulsively adds a Mars Bar to her order and pays before she can change her mind. Sticking the chocolate bar into her pocket, she heads outside to grab a couple of minutes peace while she eats.

Getting up to throw the sandwich wrapper away, Serena makes a decision; she wanted to speak to Hanssen earlier and he wouldn't listen but she is determined to make him listen to her now. When she gets to the fifth floor, Serena can hear raised voices and she takes a few steps closer to stand outside the Director of Surgery's office so she can listen.

"Oh, come on, Henrik, it's-"

"Please refer to me as 'Mr. Hanssen', Ms. Shah." Serena can hear the woman mutter something but it's too faint for her to make out the words. "It _is_ a deal, Ms. Shah – those scrubs are hospital property and should have been destroyed not taken by whoever fancies to."

Serena can't help but wonder if Hanssen's relationship with Sahira Shah isn't quite as good as both she and the CT consultant had believed. Serena knows that Sahira and Hanssen have only spoken once since last April and that was by co-incidence at the conference. That would suggest that something happened in April to change their relationship from Sahira's perception of friendship to this cool, professional one; especially if Hanssen hasn't mentioned his sabbatical to her.

A few more heated sentences are exchanged before Serena is aware of footsteps rapidly approaching the office door and she takes half a dozen quick steps further down the corridor. The younger consultant doesn't see her as she storms towards the lifts and Serena steps through the ajar office door and finds Hanssen sat at his desk, his glasses in one hand, the other pinching the bridge of his nose

"Everything ok?" His head snaps up and regards her warily as he puts his glasses back on and his expression becomes blank again, not that she can blame him, it's just over 24 hours since they were in this situation before and that is why she is here. "Right. Well, I actually wanted to apologise."

Silence.

"Ric was kind enough to point out that I don't do vulnerable very well and having the whole situation with my mother on display and played out in front of the hospital made me more than a little defensive." She sighs, a little annoyed by the total lack of response. "I am very sorry."

"Is that all, Ms. Campbell?" Serena is about to leave, until she hears him speak. "I have a meeting to get to." She wheels round, deciding that it's beyond time they had this discussion.

"No, it isn't all. What happened in Stockholm, Mr. Hanssen?"

"I am under no obligation to submit to your curiosity, Ms. Campbell." He turns his attention to the paper on his desk, ignoring her but Serena pushes on.

"It's obvious you don't have hundreds of people queuing up to help you and even your Ms. Shah didn't know you'd gone AWOL." She sees him start but she holds a hand up. "I didn't tell her but someone is bound to ask her, aren't they." She takes his silence as confirmation of her point.

"Whatever your reasons for not talking to her, fine, I know after some of my actions..." she trails off, not quite sure what she is trying to say. "The offer is there. I made a mistake and I want to apologise and that doesn't happen that often."

He remains silent, watching her with a guarded expression.

"And against my better judgement, I've not told anyone about treating you in here."

"If you want a medal, Ms. Campbell, you're in for a long wait." She wants to throttle him, how can the man be so dense and so smart at the same time.

"I don't want a bloody medal." She takes a quick calming breath. "What happened in Stockholm?"

He looks annoyed that she's brought this up again but she doesn't care. "If the board wish-"

I'm not asking on behalf of the board, I'm asking as..." Serena trails off, not sure how to end the sentence. Hanssen merely sits there, eyebrow raised, waiting to see what she has come up with.

"Asking as what?" He prompts her.

"I'm asking as a friend." She can see she has surprised him

"A friend?" The obvious disbelief smarts a little and Serena deflects.

"Why wouldn't you answer your phone? I rang you-"

"From this conveniently vacant office?" She ignores the accusation.

"Why did you disappear?"

"I had personal matters to attend to."

"Was it to do with that phone call?" Serena watches him frown, trying to recall what phone call she is referring to and she sees the moment that comprehension dawns and he remembers their discussion on the stairwell outside Keller.

"My personal matters are no concern of yours."

"Why won't you accept my offer of-"

"And what exactly is it that you are offering, Ms. Campbell?" He looks up from his computer screen and leans back into his chair, face impassive and expression inscrutable. Offended doesn't even come close to describing Serena's reaction to Hanssen's suggestion. "Perhaps you forget that I am well aware of the situation between Mr. Griffin and Dr. Birdwood propagated by your good friend, Ms. Cousins. Understandably, I have no desire to repeat the fiasco."

"Ms. Cousins was no friend of mine," is Serena's immediate and stunned response " She was... I... We were not friends by any stretch of the imagination." Telling the man how she bullied the one-time nurse isn't going to aid her cause here.

"Transparency, Ms. Campbell-"

"Is not hiding the Biotek deal from the board." She fires back.

"Breaking into my email like a common thief-"

"How else would we have found out about the deal from Biotek?"

"There was no deal, Ms. Campbell." He responds with a stony expression.

"I read the emails, Mr. Hanssen-" She doesn't see how he can possibly deny their existence. She still has paper copies.

"With no knowledge of the situation. You are perhaps better acquainted with the fact that there is often more than meets the eye." He gathers together some papers, "now, if you will excuse me, I have a meeting." Serena takes a moment to pause, she's gotten more information out of him than she anticipated and figures quitting while she isn't too far behind might not be a bad idea.

It's only when she is in the lift and sticks her hands into her pockets that she remembers the Mars Bar she had picked up and curses, wishing that she had remembered it earlier so that she could have thrown it at the Swede's head.

* * *

Still in her scrubs, Serena makes her way back to Keller on the fourth floor from Hanssen's fifth floor office, taking the stairs rather than catching the lift to give herself a bit more time to compose herself. She steps onto the ward just as the patient in bed four begins to show signs of distress and she and Ric make it to the bed at the same time.

It's Ric's patient and he takes the lead in assessing their condition, Serena glances around the ward and is glad to see that all is relatively calm.

"Serena?" Ric gets her attention and she helps to move the bed with the aid of a porter and one of the nurses towards the operating theatre. "I'm going to need an experienced pair of hands on this one." He tells her and Serena nods, figuring that Malick is on a break and she barks at Dr. Digby not to kill anyone while they're in theatre.

"So what's going on?" Ric asks casually as Serena returns the clamp to the scrub nurse – they'd managed to stabilise the patient after a tense few minutes and now the immediate cause for concern was removed, Ric was obviously using the opportunity to question her about something – it's a tactic that she would and has used.

"Seeing as you led this operation, Ric. I'd rather hope that you don't need me to explain what's going on." She answers dryly.

"You know very well that wasn't what I was asking."

"Then what _were_ you asking, Ric?" Serena retorts, trying to sound uninterested, she has a couple of ideas what he might be referring to and she doesn't want to talk about any of them.

"What happened with you and Henrik this morning?" Serena frowns and looks up, shrugging before returning her focus to the needle and thread in her hand. "On the ward." Ric elaborates.

Serena nods her understanding but makes him wait until she is done with the next stitch for an answer. To his credit, he is patient and doesn't push her but Serena mentally concedes that she can't exactly stalk off.

"We had an argument yesterday and I was going to apologise but he didn't want to hear it," she begins the next stitch, "too busy sulking," she mutters and only realised that she'd said it out loud when Ric snorts lightly in amusement.

Serena conveniently elects to ignore her own post-argument response, electing to blame the emotions of the past 48 hours and file them under 'extenuating circumstances'. The way that Hanssen had brought work politics into their conversation and how she had allowed said politics to affect her mother's treatment they day before yesterday had certainly helped to fuel her frustration at Hanssen in his office yesterday.

"You know, there's an awful lot of tension between you-" Serena interrupts Ric without looking up from the last couple of stitches.

"If you know what's good for you, Ric, you won't finish that sentence..." She warns him, letting her own sentence trail off, resisting the urge to remind him of the recent events with Dr. Birdwood and how it suggests that he hasn't learned his own lessons. "And don't look at me like that, Ric Griffin, I know how your mind works." Her colleague doesn't even try to deny her accusation, just holds his hand up innocently and Serena hopes he'll let the matter drop.

She had been torn between apologising to Hanssen and not. If the man doesn't like her, it aids her plan to get rid of this ridiculous attachment she has formed. It was almost a point of pride for Serena that she had mostly avoided unsuitable partners or relationships, she's always been too busy working and studying – unless you counted her husband, but her marriage hadn't been that bad.

Then again, she concedes, her love life has hardly been riven with success stories; she hadn't been on a date in forever and she tended to intimidate most of the men she interacts with, Hanssen is the notable exception. The man almost seemed to enjoy sparring with her, provoking her; it's little wonder that Eleanor thinks her mother is borderline dependent on Shiraz.

"I'll finish up here," Serena tells Ric a few minutes later, partly knowing that he is on the night shift and needs a break and partly in an effort to get rid of him, "you go and stretch your legs and take a break."

"Are you sure?" She glances up.

"Yes of course I'm sure. Now vamos, mister, before I change my mind." Ric doesn't need telling again and he gratefully makes his way out of the theatre and Serena sets about closing up the patient.

* * *

Serena took her time getting changed out of her scrubs, reflecting on the long day they've all had and looking forward to an early night with... by herself. She reminds herself to have strong words with Eleanor's father when he drops her back.

Coming out of the staff room, she makes her way onto the ward and over to the new F1 who is still on the ward who visibly takes a calming breath as Serena approaches, she smirks on the inside thinking to herself 'you've still got it'.

"Everything ok here while I was in theatre, Dr. Digby?" She watches him push his glasses back up his nose, nervously.

"Errr, yes, no, nothing, um, everything is fine." He offers her a pained smile and if it had been anyone else, Serena would have said they were hiding something but she chalks his unease up to to his fear of her.

Too tired to care particularly about Digby's lack of confidence, she nods and heads back to her office, it can be Ric's problem – she doesn't usually do that but she wants and feels she has earned an early, stress-free night; there is a bubble bath and a glass of wine with her name on waiting for her at home, both of which she is going to savour.

She also makes a mental note to give her Mum a call, to find out how she's doing, if there's any more pain. She also hopes her mother has forgotten about her quest to conquer Facebook, Serena suspects that Eleanor has been showing her how to use it, she'll have to have words with her daughter as well.

She makes her way to the office she shares with Ric, the room is dark., he has obviously already left to grab a coffee or whatever he is doing and she types the passcode absent-mindedly into the lock and steps into the room, not bothering to turn on any lights, just wanting to grab her stuff and leave, fit to drop.

She makes her way into the darkened room and just about manages not to scream when she sees a dark figure sat at her desk.

It's Hanssen.

"Christ!" She exclaims, trying to get her heart rate back down. She takes a step or two back towards the door and turns on the main office lights. "Why are you... What are you doing?" She asks, making sure to let her impatience with the man show in her tone of voice.

"I didn't want to speak to you earlier, Ms. Campbell."

"Yes, you made that _quite_ clear, Mr. Hanssen." She fires back a retort in kind, his comment smarting as it hits its mark. Silence. She sighs. "Why are you sitting at my desk in the dark?"

"To tell you that I have accepted your apology," Serena snorts quietly, "and to offer one of my own..." He looks as if he is about to say more but after nearly a minute of silence, Serena decides that no more information is forthcoming let alone the words 'I'm sorry'.

"Right, thanks for that. I'd best be off home – it's been a long day." She comments flatly and Hanssen takes the hint, rising from the chair and presenting her with her bag.

She stops suddenly and he nearly walks into her, stepping to the side at the last moment to avoid a collision. Serena turns to face him, made aware once more, of just how tall he is as she looks up.

"What is it with you? One moment you are the man who spent his weekend on call doing my paperwork even though he didn't have to; the next moment we get this... this, whatever you are." She sighs, picking up her coat from the stand by the office door. "Christ, I'm not suggesting you turn into Sacha Levy and if you did, quite frankly, I'd sign the paperwork myself to get you committed but..." She doesn't know how to finish the sentence and lets it trail off, not wholly sure where she was going with it anyway.

She shrugs on her coat before remembering her impulse purchase on the way to the fifth floor earlier. Serena pulls a slightly battered Mars Bar out of her pocket, sighing, "I err, I have it on good authority you have a soft spot for these – a peace offering of sorts, Mr. Hanssen..."

He smiles at her and she feels sixteen all over again. Again. If she wasn't feeling so childishly pleased with herself, Serena knows that she'd curse herself for being so stupid in his presence. He eyes the chocolate bar for a moment before transferring his gaze to her once more as he accepts her offering.

"Thank you, Ms. Campbell." He holds the door open for her and exits after her and they leave the ward and travel down to the car park together.

"So, how long have you know Sahira Shah?" Serena asks as they exit the lift onto the foyer.

"You already know the answer, Ms. Campbell."

"Humour me," she explains lightly. "I'm attempting to start this wild thing called a conversation." Serena sees his eyes glitter behind his glasses and he accedes to her wishes.

"17 years thereabouts." His eyes glaze a little and he continues, "I think she was my biggest headache until I met you, Ms. Campbell."

"I'm sure there was something nice buried in there somewhere." She looks up at him, letting him know she isn't really offended. Hanssen remains silent. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"_Goodnight_, Ms. Campbell." He tells her and she's certain his tone lighter than it normally would be

"Goodnight, Mr. Hanssen." She replies in kind. She sits in her car, watching him pull out of the car park feeling happier with the way the day has gone than she expected. As she puts her car into gear to leave as well, she doesn't see a pair of eyes watching her and her interactions with the tall man.

Serena smiles as she pulls out of the car park a moment later, thinking that she might just have a small glass of wine to celebrate their civil conversation rather than drown her sorrows and anger at the man, for a change.

* * *

**I toyed with the idea but it isn't _quite_ time for Serena to find out about Hanssen's mother but they got some things out of the way and other things we'll be returning to later on. Next chapter – Serena's mother's operation has been re-scheduled, we all know what that means...! :-(**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Righty ho, we finally start to depart course and move into the AU I've created here. Will probably still reference the odd bit but it'll probably make the timeline squiffy so don't worry too hard about that.**

**No Sahira in this chapter but something of hers cops it!**

**Quite a short chapter in comparison to the previous one, the next one will probably be a little longer – I have a large portion of it written already.**

* * *

Chapter 8.

"Oh for God's sake, Serena." She tells herself as she gets out of her car, firmly shutting the door behind her. "You're not a bloody junior Doctor. Grow a pair!" She berates herself using a phrase that she has almost certainly picked up from her daughter and imagines that if Eleanor was listening to her, she'd undoubtedly be amused by her mother's choice of wording. She had been sitting in her newly-repaired car for a few minutes, plucking up the courage to step into the hospital and onto Keller ward.

It was her first shift back after her Mum's disastrous operation. Part of her dreads walking back onto the ward, it had been the day from hell and she'd managed, quite probably, to swiftly alienate all the staff, who had somehow in the last year become her friends without her noticing. She especially was not looking forward to facing Chantelle again.

After Adrienne's operation had been delayed the first time, Serena had made a point of calling her mother every other day, their car park conversation still fresh in her mind.

"_I've not been a brilliant daughter, I know, I don't give Eleanor half the attention that I should and I've taken you for granted."_

"_It's not too late." _

"_Isn't it?"_

"_It's about the choices you make."_

"_You're not seriously suggesting that I'm wrong to want both?"_

"_In the end, you'll have to do what you think is right."_

"_You've said that to me all my life and I'm grateful. It informs every decision I make."_

She'd hadn't really seen Hanssen in the meantime, not since he'd nearly given her a heart attack by waiting in her office but the work kept arriving with a disturbing regularity in her inbox. For once, she was glad of the tedious work which accompanied Cunningham's made-up job, it provided Serena with a decent distraction from her concerns as she waited for her mother's operation to be rescheduled. She suspected that Hanssen knew what she was doing but if he noticed the increased speed at which it was completed and returned, he said nothing, an action which Serena appreciated.

Serena makes her way across the car park, from her allocated parking spot to the doors of the Wyvern entrance, ready to take the lift. She gets into a lift with a couple of nurses whose conversations stop as soon as she steps into the carriage. Although outwardly, Serena looks the same, on the inside, she feels surprisingly self-conscious.

She spots Dr. Digby on the ward with one of the other registrars at the far end of the ward and to her relief, the junior doctor avoids her. She dumps her bag onto her desk without looking, taking a moment to shrug off her coat and hang it up. Serena is grateful that Ric isn't in the office yet and she boots up her computer, dreading the amount of work that will have accumulated in her short absence.

Serena is pleasantly surprised by the two emails from Hanssen, both are easily dealt with and she waits for the floodgates to open, now that he knows she is in the office. Lifting her bag off the desk, she spots something on her desk that wasn't there when she left the last time she was in here. Blinking to refocus her eyes, Serena realises the offensively brightly coloured item is a cupcake with a quick note stuck underneath.

_Sorry to hear about your Mum. _

_S_

_x_

Serena stares at the scrawled message, she doesn't recognise the cursive but knows who has left this for her in an instant. Her façade cracks and before Serena realises what she has done, she forms a fist and smashes the cupcake in anger. Nursing her hand – she'd used more force than she had meant to – she winces as she picks up the bin and sweeps the mess into it.

Determined not to cry, Serena angrily wipes at her eyes.

Serena is angry at everyone and at no-one; she wants to be angry at Chantelle for leaving her mother unattended on the busy ward for two hours after a major operation. She wants to be mad at Dr. Digby for not checking properly that the observations had been fully completed instead of just glancing at the top sheet. She's upset at Ric for not letting her do the operation herself before and furious at Hanssen for citing politics rather than patient care and furious at herself for acceding to the man's wishes.

As a surgeon herself, she knows that there are risks with all operations but it's a matter of pride for Serena that her patients do not become statistics. As a daughter, complications like the stroke happen to other people, not to her Mum.

Serena intellectually knows the complaint she threatened won't solve anything, it doesn't make anything better but it's all she's got. She feels powerless as the whole spectacle is put on display, especially if staff on other wards have heard already.

She checks her laptop again and sees no new emails from Hanssen, until the mountain of paperwork appears, there isn't a lot that she can do and Serena decides to check on her Mum this morning in ITU and then do the morning ward rounds.

Conscious that her own pending complaint cites lack of staff on the ward, Serena doesn't stay with her Mum for very long. The woman is asleep to Serena's secret relief; seeing her previously indefatigable mother struck down in such a way has been awful for both women and after twenty minutes, when she doesn't show any signs of waking soon, Serena gets up from her chair next to the bed where she's kept vigil, presses a kiss to her Mum's cheek and heads back to Keller.

* * *

An hour later and there has still been no work sent down from Hanssen and Serena's suspicions about what Hanssen might be doing are proving more and more likely. She sits and scowls at her computer as Ric ambles in off the ward and Serena, temporarily forgetting about her anger at Ric the last time she saw him launches into complaining about Hanssen and how he isn't sending her any work in some mis-guided belief that she can't cope. She only realises that Ric hasn't said a word after a few sentences and she pauses, seeing him patiently waiting for her to finish.

"No-one can win with you, Serena. If the Keller staff can't get it right, what chance does Henrik have?" She wants to bite back about people not needing to treat her differently but holds her tongue, too concerned that anything she'll say will be taken personally by Ric. "If he'd sent you work, you'd have pitched a fit, called him all manner of names; he hasn't sent you work and you've done the same." Ric's softly spoken words are in direct contrast to his firm posture and Serena looks away.

By the time she looks back over at Ric, he's typing and she spots the remains of a few cupcake crumbs on her desk and sweeps them into the bin. She desperately needs something to distract her and decides that she doesn't want to wait for Hanssen to finish satisfying any chivalrous gesture that his subconscious has demanded in light of her mother's stroke. Serena doesn't look at Ric as she stands up but addresses him.

"For what it's worth, I didn't file the complaint on Tuesday. It was all just-"

"One of those days?" Offers Ric but Serena disagrees, it was much worse. She can cope with 'one of those days' – as Eleanor was kind enough to point out – she's had several of them recently.

"It was a day from hell." She corrects and Ric is silent for a moment.

"I think you need to tell someone else that, not me." Serena frowns, she hasn't seen Hanssen yet and didn't really want to bring it up at all. "She's in at 2." Ric continues and Serena realises that he means Chantelle. She leaves without any further comment, not wholly certain that she is ready to face the nurse.

* * *

Serena strides up the fifth floor corridor up to the familiar wooden doors, knocks and enters without waiting to be summoned.

"Mr..." Serena begins, noticing that Hanssen's office has a guest and she immediately spots the tension between the two men, "Cunningham. I didn't expect to see you so soon." She recovers smoothly enough, the polite small talk and automatic response and she chances a quick look at Hanssen, sat on the other side of the desk.

"Err, no, well, a flying visit today." The chairman of the board explains and she cringes at the change of expression on Cunningham's face when he sees her.

"I see," Serena responds in a neutral tone, "well, if you're busy, I'll-"

"Mr. Cunningham was just leaving." Hanssen states, finally joining the conversation.

"So it would seem but I do have time for a quick tour, Serena." She doesn't like the casual use of her name, "we can have a short catch up."

Serena sees Hanssen's jaw clench but there is no other response to indicate his feelings. She doesn't particularly want to talk with Cunningham and looks to Hanssen for help but it is clear that the Swede doesn't want to play along. She can't blame him, as far as he is concerned, she and the chairman are still quite close.

"Well then," she turns to Cunningham and plasters a stock smile onto her face, "shall we?" The tour wasn't too bad, Serena endeavoured to make it as quick as possible, wondering 'where a well-timed page or summons is when you need one?'

* * *

"What's the chairman going on about?" Serena steps into Hanssen's office again, glad that Hanssen is on his own as she checks belatedly for any visitors, he glances up, eyebrows raised before returning his focus to his laptop. "I didn't do any report for him this week."

"Ah, I am aware of that." Hanssen's gaze is firmly on his laptop screen and Serena is half aware that he isn't typing anything and she wonders why he is avoiding her gaze so studiously.

"So why does he think I did?" She rubs her neck.

"Because a report was submitted to him this morning with your name on."

"What!" She exclaims, suddenly furious and ready to maim whoever it was. "Who-"

"_I_ wrote it." Serena opens mouth and shuts it again, not expecting Hanssen's answer.

"Why?" He ignores her question and attempts to deflect her.

"I must admit, I struggled in my attempt to mimic your writing style and I should confess to copying and pasting small sentences to maintain your usual intensity." He glances up at her over the top of his glasses with a small smirk. "One suspects however, Mr. Cunningham will not notice."

"Why did you do that?" Serena can't help but feel automatically suspicious at Hanssen's motives.

"The buck stops with me, any mistakes you make are my responsibility, Ms. Campbell."

"I'm 99% certain I didn't get an email about this report." She thinks he has a nerve, suggesting that her non-completion of a report she didn't get is a failure on her part. "In fact, _I_ didn't get the email about the report because _you_ didn't send it to me. I know you aren't setting me up only because you wouldn't have done the report yourself if that was the case. So why?"

Hanssen's face goes blank and Serena gets the impression that her mistrust has stung, she doesn't know why he's bothered, she hasn't said anything unreasonable to him, yet. In a clipped voice he answers. "If you must know, it was in order to give you greater time with your mother, Ms. Campbell."

Serena's immediate anger in response to him mentioning her mother doesn't materialise in the same way that it would have if Ric mentioned her so casually. She sits down heavily, in the seat that Cunningham occupied earlier, confusion the dominant emotion.

"If it was anyone else, I'd think that they were being patronising in a misguided attempt to be nice but not you." She sighs, running a hand through her hair to gather her thoughts. "We both use work to distract ourselves so why when my mother is involved..." she pauses, the tension in Hanssen's frame unmistakable and she also caught the tiny flinch when she mentioned her mother.

Serena goes silent, watching Hanssen and he makes no move to fill the silence or react in any way, she can see he's trying to give the impression of nothingness, no emotion but there is obviously an emotional reason for him to do so. Serena doubts that the fact it's _her_ mother would bother him unduly, maybe something to do with his own mother? Serena is distracted for a moment, trying to imagine Hanssen with parents.

There's no answer and Serena sighs, not for the first time thinking that trying to get any information out of Hanssen is not dissimilar to pulling teeth.

"I don't understand why when my mother..." she pauses, searching for a word before giving up and moving on, hoping Hanssen will understand, gesturing weakly, "means you would let me sit with her rather than calling me to do a report?" He shoots her a look before commenting idly.

"I am rather fond of my limbs in their current configuration and they would almost certainly have been forcibly rearranged had I attempted to drag you from your mother's bedside." Serena isn't quite sure how to respond to Hanssen's statement, aware that he's probably not too far off the mark, however, there is one thing which has been nagging at her.

"How did you even know she was my mother?" Serena asks; Hanssen had been over at St. James' the day of the operation and she hasn't filed the complaint just yet, still undecided what to do.

"It was Ms. Shah who informed me of your relationship with Mrs. McKinnie." Hanssen answers and Serena can't help but scowl as she explains about the cupcake she found on her desk, flexing her still-sore hand as she tells Hanssen about its fate.

"And she's lucky it was just her cupcake which met my fist," she mutters, more to herself but she rather fancies that Hanssen is amused by her quiet comment. "What?"

She watches his lips quirk and he confesses, leaning forward slightly, "there have been several instances over the years when I have wanted to do just that to them but unfortunately, Ms. Shah has usually been stood there to make sure that I eat the ghastly things rather than pulverize them."

Serena smiles but it quickly turns to a frown as she realises what Hanssen is doing. "Stop trying to change the subject: why did you do the report instead of me so that I could sit at a patient's bedside?"

Hanssen goes silent and Serena doesn't remove her gaze from him, waiting for an answer. The only sound in the office is the ticking of the clock's second hand and Serena counts nearly two minutes before Hanssen speaks.

"In the summer of 1976, I returned to Sweden from school in England for the summer holidays," he begins and although confused, Serena remains silent.

* * *

**AN2: A quick plea – a future chapter references Serena's birthday – I've searched for it online but there's no reference to it (so she may have been spawned after all!) so... if any of you have a birthday in the April/May time, let me know and I'll use yours in honour :-)**

**AN3: 50th review coming up... if you get it, make sure I can contact you. Got two other one-shots in the works, both are about 5/8th done, I haven't forgotten!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: I, um, well, I have a small confession to make... the last chapter wasn't meant to end where it did! I seem to have accidentally deleted the last few lines of the exchange in Hanssen's office! You've not missed much in the grand scheme of things but it's made me scratch my head to try and work out how to fit it into this one because it's kind of important to know what Hanssen said and what he _didn't_ say. What a muppet I am, feel free to tell me again. **

**Usual disclaimers apply. **

**Many thanks for the lovely reviews and follows from the previous chapter, I'm glad so many of you liked the destruction of the cupcake – what a violent bunch you all are :-)**

**This chapter features Serena's mum a bit but sets the scene for later scenes (aren't I organised and forward-thinking! Trust me, it won't last...). Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 9.

Serena bursts through the door of the office that she shares with Ric on Keller, she's been running late all morning but despite the best attempt of the fates this morning, she still has about forty seconds to spare before her shift starts. She catches her breath as she dumps her bags onto her desk, amazed that she made it on time.

She'd woken up late; there had obviously been a power cut at some point overnight and her alarm clock had reset itself as a result, meaning that it was nearly 8am when the dustbin men outside her house had woken her up. Serena is very briefly glad that Eleanor is still staying at her father's, the language that she had used as she realised what had happened contained words and curses that she never wants her daughter, or her ex-husband for that matter to hear.

She had showered frantically, brushing her teeth whilst trying to get changed and head down the stairs at the same time before she tells herself to concentrate lest she fall down the stairs and end up next to her mother in ITU. She'd left her coat on the rack in the hall and forsaking breakfast had jumped in the car, aware that she was more than likely going to hit rush hour traffic.

Serena is normally one for taking her time when driving but this morning, she hasn't got any time to waste.

"_I'd rather get there late in this life, than early in the next, Rena."_

Adrienne's words always echo in her mind whenever she gets into the car but this morning Serena ignores the voice, choosing to drive along the ring road a lot faster than she would usually, praying that no speeding fines arrive through her letterbox as a result. She had never been more thankful for her own parking space and managed to jump into the lift on the ground floor and head straight to the fourth floor, relieved at the reprieve.

"Thank Christ," she exhales forcefully, trying to catch her breath as she sorts out her bags under her desk and pulls her laptop out onto the desk as she collapses into her chair, closing her eyes and hopes that her abrupt start to the day won't catch up with her later on.

The door opens and Ric wanders in, the token amount of folders under his arm and a mug of something in his other hand and Serena's attention is immediately drawn to it. Ric obviously notices her fascination with his drink and comments with amusement.

"Late night?"

"The day has started so badly so it can only get better from here." Serena frowns, trying to work out what Ric has in the mug he's holding. "Especially if that's got caffeine in it..." She indicates Ric's coffee and with an amused look he resigns himself to losing it and hands it over to her.

"Isn't that tempting fate?" He quips and Serena shrugs, taking a big mouthful of the hot drink, trying not to wince at the amount of sugar her colleague has put in it. "I'll just go and get another drink shall I?"

"I owe you." She responds and smirks in response to Ric's smile as he turns and heads back out of the office to get himself another drink. She watches him go, quietly reflecting on how their friendship seems to have snuck up on her when she wasn't looking. By the time that Ric gets back into the office a few minutes later, Serena's focus is on her inbox full of emails.

She's just finished responding to a query from a colleague at St. James' when her email pings, spotting that the new message is from Terrance Cunningham, Serena opens it warily. Only to roll her eyes at the invitation to dinner, 'an opportunity to catch up' which is attached to the glowing response to 'her' report last week. Careful to delete the dinner invitation, Serena forwards the message to Hanssen, adding a tongue-in-cheek comment about awarding him a 'Gold Star Sticker' for his efforts.

Hanssen's reply arrives a couple of minutes later and makes Serena snort softly in amusement.

_Excellent news. I shall add it to the others – I have quite the collection forming._

_H.H._

Serena is aware that Ric looked up, distracted by her reaction but she ignores him. There is no way she is telling him that she was sharing an unexpectedly light-hearted moment with Hanssen – Ric would think that they had both gone soft in the head. Serena's email pings once more and this time Ric speaks.

"Admirer?"

"Hardly, it's Hanssen." Serena comments hoping that will be the end of the matter, the last thing she needs is Ric getting wind of her _thing_ for Hanssen. "You're as bad as Michael." She tells him, making Ric grin but he does thankfully drop the subject and returns his focus to his paperwork.

The latest email isn't from Hanssen but it makes her re-read the contents of the message several times anyway and two bits stick in her mind.

_Within one month of the stroke, the patient will undergo a routine psychological assessment._

_Mrs. A. McKinnie's assessment is scheduled today at 13:00._

"I need a favour, Ric." He glances up from his paperwork.

"Shoot."

"I need you to cover the ward for me at one o'clock."

"Why?"

"Please Ric." She doesn't want to beg.

"You don't think I should know why I'm covering for you?" Serena sighs, it isn't an unreasonable request but she is loathe to reveal any information.

"My mother has an assessment," she eventually confesses, "I want to be there with her."

"Of course," Ric agrees instantly to her relief. "Obviously I won't mention it to any of the staff but if Henrik should ask after you...?"

"I don't know; tell him I've run away to join the circus." Serena quips and Ric rolls his eyes, shaking his head. "Thank you." He waves away her thanks, leaving Serena to nervously check the clock on a regular basis for the next three hours.

* * *

"Mum?"

Serena asks softly as she makes her way over to the now familiar bed and sits down on the chair next to her mother. Adrienne's head moves towards the sound and her eyes follow Serena's progress across the room.

Serena is thankful that in the fortnight since her mother had the stroke, Adrienne has regained the ability to swallow voluntarily as well as a limited range of motion down her right-hand side, her left-hand side is still weaker as well as some speech. Serena has noticed how she seems to find certain words and sounds easier to pronounce than others, 'l' rather 'r' and Serena imagines it is linked to the shape of the mouth when saying them.

"Love." Adrienne mumbles and Serena forces a bright smile onto her face for her mother, finding herself wanting, for the first time in forty years, her mother to call her Rena again.

"How are you feeling?" Her mother sends her an attempted baleful look and Serena promptly apologises, "sorry, I... Are you thirsty?" Her mother shakes her head and Serena nods and the two women fall into silence as Serena searches for a topic of conversation whilst they wait for the assessment to start.

"Eleanor's doing well," Serena begins and she can see the beneficial effect it has on Adrienne immediately, "she was up to her ears in coursework but that's over for the moment to _everyone's_ relief."She drawls and picks up her mum's hand, sandwiching it between hers. "Oh and she has a new boyfriend – I don't like him." Serena feels her mother squeeze her hand and she glances up from their hands to her face.

"Same. You same." It takes Serena a moment to understand what her mother is saying and when she comprehends, she huffs in mock annoyance.

"I most certainly was not! You make it sound like I was-" Serena is interrupted by the noisy arrival of a woman who reminds her of Mo Effanga.

"Mrs. Campbell?" Serena stands, almost protectively placing herself between her mother and this woman and warily confirms her identity, "ah, I thought I recognised you – seen you chatting with the big cheese a couple of times."

"Why are you here?" Serena's immediate response to the woman was to tense until she forces herself to calm, there has been nothing untoward between her and Hanssen for anyone to see. Much to her annoyance, the woman ignores her question and moves around the bed to face Adrienne.

"Good afternoon Mrs. McKinnie; my name is Victoria." She introduces herself with a smile that makes Serena scowl. "I don't know if anyone has spoken to you about this," she glances at Serena and continues to talk about how in the first month after a stroke, the hospital will work with the patient, provide a psychological assessment in addition to their physical rehabilitation to aid their recovery. The woman goes on to mention how by identifying something that the patient may find particularly distressing, for example the inability to feed themselves, then their physical therapy can be tailored to focus on that, providing a measurable improvement and aiding overall recovery.

"Go." It takes Serena a moment to realise that her Mum has spoken and she turns to face her, to try and convince her that this assessment is in her best interests when she pauses, seeing her mother's gaze on her, rather than the other woman. "Go." She repeats.

"Mum?" Adrienne shakes her head in danger of becoming agitated, yet despite that, Serena is about to remonstrate with her, to remind her that she is here to support her but a hand on her upper arm stops her and Serena shrugs away from the other woman's hand. She stares at her mother, willing her to change her mind and after a few moments, when it becomes clear that Adrienne isn't going to, she concedes.

"Fine," she states, trying to sound unaffected, "fine, I'll go; I'll come by after work," she says stiffly, trying not to let her voice crack as she turns on the spot and leaves the room. The woman, Victoria, catches up with her when Serena is already halfway down the corridor, calling her name and Serena stops but doesn't turn around.

"Ms. Campbell." The woman catches her breath, wheezing a little as she draws closer, "it's important not to take your mother's decision personally; it happens more often than you might think." Serena sneers to herself, still not facing the psychologist and bites the inside of her mouth to stop herself shouting at the patronising woman talking about something she knows absolutely nothing about; the relationship between Serena and her mother is not up for comment on or examination by a stranger.

"Just go and do your job and let me go and do mine." Serena tells the woman and storms out of the corridor.

Ric is sat at his desk and looks up when Serena barges into the office, not quite managing to shut the door behind her and she slumps into her chair, bringing up a report on her laptop from earlier, pretending to work on it and resolutely ignoring the look that Ric is bound to be shooting her.

"How did it go?" He asks gently after a few minutes.

"Fine."

Serena replies, not entirely trusting herself to maintain her composure for anything more than monosyllabic answers; her mother's rejection of her _hurts_.

"I was expecting to cover for you for longer than... eleven minutes." There's no accusation in his tone but Serena doesn't look up from the screen that she isn't really looking at. She couldn't stand to see any pity in his expression.

"Yes, well," she sighs, looking down at her hands resting on the keyboard in front of her, eyes tracing the veins on the back of her hands, "my presence was not required after all."

"Oh," Ric responds and Serena thinks, 'oh indeed', "I'm sure that the psychologist had their reasons-" she laughs bitterly, cutting him off.

"It wasn't her – my mother wanted me gone."

"I see."

Pause.

"That makes more sense." Serena's head jerks up and Ric holds a hand up to stop Serena biting his head off. "If the situation was reversed, would you really be okay with your mother or with Eleanor sitting there listening to you attempt to articulate your feelings? To witness your struggle and frailty?"

"Of course." She answers instantly and Ric merely raises his eyebrows in disbelief and Serena looks away. She knew it was a lie as soon as she said it, Serena has always prided herself on being self-sufficient, independent and strong; the thought of anyone, let alone her daughter seeing her as anything else makes her feel sick. "No, I wouldn't want them there." she eventually admits, looking back at Ric.

"I thought not, you and your mother aren't so different." 'Both stubborn to a fault', Serena thinks. "Now, I have an appendectomy in an hour but for a smile I could be persuaded to swap it with a colleague who needs something else to focus on?" Serena can't help but smile sadly in response to the obvious concern in his voice.

* * *

The appendectomy had the desired result and allowed Serena to compartmentalise the afternoon's events. She usually had no problem at separating work from home and visa versa but when the two overlap as they are at the moment, Serena finds that she struggles. The routine procedure had no complications and she takes the scenic route back to the ward and buys two coffees for herself and Ric to say thanks.

The rest of the shift passed without incident, Serena had made a large dent in the mountain of paperwork which occupies the left-hand side of her desk as well as having an elective of her own to complete. Making her way off the ward at the end of the shift, Serena heads along the corridor to ITU, hoping for a different outcome to this afternoon. She muses about the rarity of being on her own in this corridor, on the last few occasions, Hanssen had insisted on accompanying her to ITU when he had bumped into her on her way from Keller. She is a little confused at the apparent change in his attitude, whilst Serena is grateful for the quiet, unobtrusive support he offers her, she can't help but feel suspicious at the man's motives.

To her knowledge, he has never taken such an interest in a patient that has absolutely nothing to do with him; she can't quite figure out why he has started doing this for her mother, the man doesn't do things without good reason and the fact that Serena doesn't know what Hanssen's reasons are makes her uneasy. Not that she would necessarily feel any better if she did know his motivations, she concedes – the man is still an enigma.

Her steps slow as she reaches the door to ITU, where her mother is remaining until the hospital eventually gets its act together and transfers Adrienne McKinnie to the stroke unit and it takes her brain a second or two to process the sight in front of her.

Her mother's bed is where it should be, the frail body of her mother is where Serena expects it to be but there is an addition that Serena wasn't expecting – her mother has a visitor – a blonde female is sat at her bedside wearing a denim jacket and Serena's heart leaps as she pushes open the door.

"Eleanor?" Only for her to feel sick when the woman turns around at the voice and Serena is able to identify her.

"Nurse Lane..." Serena greets coldly.

"Ms. Campbell," the nurse jumps up, obviously not expecting any interruptions and Serena notes the way that Chantelle tries to surreptitiously release her mother's hand as she turns to face the consultant.

"What are you doing?" Serena's voice is low and quiet but she knows it carries. It's the voice that Eleanor secretly refers to as Serena's 'oh-shit voice' and almost always means trouble for the recipient, be they daughter, ex-husband, colleague or patient.

Serena sees the nurse swallow and gather her resolve to speak, "I... I was visiting Mrs. McKinnie, Ms. Campbell."

Serena is about to ask the nurse what on earth she thought would possibly give her the right to sit there with her mother when Serena herself wasn't permitted earlier in the day when another voice speaks up from the doorway.

"A perfectly valid reason as I'm sure you'd agree." Serena doesn't need to turn around to identify the newcomer, she'd recognise Hanssen's voice anywhere. "A word, Ms. Campbell." His tone leaves no room for argument and Serena shoots a glare at Chantelle who visibly shrinks as she turns to follow the Swede back out into the corridor.

* * *

Serena steps out of ITU after Hanssen's unexpected arrival, expecting to find him stood stiffly next to the wall, shifting his weight from foot to foot and his hands clasped behind his back in an attempt to look casual and imposing at the same time and not quite managing either as far as Serena is concerned. He isn't stood where she expected to find him and it takes a moment of searching until she locates his tall, immaculately-suited figure at the end of the corridor, waiting for her next to the double doors.

Serena attempts to remind herself of the anger she felt at seeing Nurse Lane sat with her mother in an attempt to suppress her own instinctive reaction at heading towards Hanssen, all too aware of his gaze on her.

Hanssen remains silent when she draws near and instead of speaking, holds the door open for her and when she steps through he turns and heads down the next corridor towards his office. To Serena's surprise, he carries on past the office they have both occupied and she glances at the door reflexively as she strides past, trying to keep up with Hanssen's longer legs.

The loss of the office and role of CEO isn't as raw as it was on that morning, time has healed that particular hurt, besides, Serena finds she has other concerns which are more personal and more significant to her at the moment. Hanssen has stopped outside the boardroom which is usually the location for the senior consultant's meetings at the start and end of the week. She isn't paying attention and narrowly avoids walking into the Swede, instead throwing him a suspicious look as she follows him into the room.

Serena heads straight to the back of the dark room, glad that Hanssen hasn't turned on the lights; she stares out of the window for a few seconds, waiting to hear whatever it is that Hanssen is about to say to her – probably a reprimand for the way she was about to treat the Nurse.

She feels her hands clench and form fists at the unfairness of the possibility, Adrienne is her mother, not Chantelle's mother and it was Chantelle's mistake which meant Serena's mother's stroke wasn't picked up and therefore treated as soon as it could have been. As far as Serena is concerned, the Nurse has no right to sit with her mother in some attempt at penance. Belatedly becoming aware that Hanssen hasn't said anything, or if he has, she hasn't heard him; the room is silent and Serena turns on the spot, wondering if Hanssen has brought her here to stew and disappeared off.

Serena spots the figure of the Director of Surgery about halfway down the room, leaning slightly against the wall, his eyes following her as she steps away from the window, letting her hands fall away to her sides from the window sill they had been resting on.

"Well?" As much as an ever-growing traitorous part of her would love to spend some time in a dark room with a blessedly silent Henrik Hanssen, Serena's obligation to her mother is more pressing and she doesn't want to spend any longer away from her mother's bedside than she has to.

"Well?" He parrots back at her and Serena's temper sparks and is in danger of igniting if the man is going to delay her.

"I take it there was a reason you were looking for me," she drawls, attempting to sound bored and indifferent, "and I'm certain it's not for the pleasure of my company." Serena looks away as she mutters the last part, not wanting to see the confirmation of her point that is bound to be on his face or for him to see the hurt on hers.

Her master plan to rid herself of her attraction to Hanssen involves persuading herself that he hates her but Serena finds she doesn't want to be reminded at _every_ turn how he hates her at worst, or is completely indifferent to her at best, while she nurses this frustrating _thing_ for him. Serena hates the control he has over how she feels, how he can manipulate her emotionally without realising it.

"Do you have somewhere else to be, Ms. Campbell?" He queries and Serena snarls.

"What do you think?"

"I gather your Mother's psychological assessment was this afternoon-"

"Congratulations, Mr. Hanssen." She interrupts him, nodding stiffly and trying not to sneer. "Right again." He doesn't respond immediately.

"I was made aware of the situation," Hanssen phrases delicately, "have you... do you wish to talk about it?"

"I can't imagine that you'd be interested, Mr. Hanssen." Serena responds in a flat voice, not noticing his flinched reaction to her words, too busy trying to hold onto what is left of her composure – her mother's rejection suddenly raw and painful again.

"Contrary to hospital gossip and prevailing opinion, I am acquainted with anger, grief and pain."

Serena recalls his eventual confession in his office the shift after her mother's stroke and how it caught her by surprise – it had been nearly several days since their conversation in his office and Serena still found herself turning the scene over in her mind; the Director of Surgery's confession appearing to come out of left-field initially in lieu of an explanation but as he continued on in a flat tone of voice, Hanssen's decision began to make sense to Serena.

"_In the summer of 1976, I returned to Sweden from school in England for the summer holidays... to find my father waiting for me."_

Obviously choosing his words with great care, Hanssen had recounted how his father had broken the news of his mother's death only a week before to the sixteen year old. His resulting anger, confusion and suffocating grief made worse by having been denied the opportunity to be with his mother when she had died.

"_I wished to give you more time with your mother, should she..."_

He'd gestured weakly, not needing to finish the sentence and in that moment, both of them sporting pained and polite smiles, she'd seen another side to Hanssen; Serena instinctively knew that he wasn't telling her the whole story, he had made no mention of how his mother had died and although she had wanted to ask, she acknowledged it wasn't necessary and had swallowed her question.

"_And not getting that opportunity isn't something I would wish on anyone."_

"_Even on me?"_

"_Especially you, Ms. Campbell." _

Serena hadn't meant to voice her reactive response out loud and she doesn't know what Hanssen meant by his comment, instead choosing to change the subject, to request some work from him before making a hasty retreat back to the ward in an attempt to cover her confusion. Hanssen had nodded, his focus appearing to be back on his laptop screen as she makes her way out of the office, not noticing how his eyes followed her before he leant back in his hair, sighing softly.

If Serena wasn't so concerned that it would rapidly descend into tears which she has, for the most part managed to avoid, then she would laugh at the absurdity of the situation she has found herself in. Part of her wonders if she's fallen asleep at her desk again, she is struggling to believe that the stoic Swede is attempting to encourage Serena to talk about her feelings.

"And what's it to you anyway?" Serena swiftly closes the distance between them and even with the small heel on her boots, he still towers over her, "I know you don't take a personal interest in every upset relative, so why start now?" Hanssen looks wary at the lack of space between them but holds his ground.

"None of the _upset relatives_ have been the executive director of surgery at this hospital," he states calmly. Serena isn't sure what she was expecting Hanssen to say but realises that she should have anticipated a work-related reason rather than delusionally hoping for Hanssen to say something personal.

"And that's it?" Serena fires back, "that's my only use in this bloody place as far as you're concerned? So you took it upon yourself to swan in here, push me until I vent with the aim that when we're done in here, I will happily head back to my office, chain myself to my desk and merrily continue to do the endless paperwork you dump onto me?"

Hanssen remains silent in response to her accusation and just observes her, looking down through his glasses. Waiting for a response from him, Serena returns his gaze and the room falls silent aside from the sound of her breathing, as she tries to calm herself by counting breaths in and out.

"Whilst the smooth and continued running of this hospital is my primary role, the welfare and well-being of all of my my staff is also my concern," Serena wonders if he means her or Chantelle. "I am acting in yours and quite frankly, the hospital's best interests..." Serena closes her eyes at the way he has repeated her words from last year back at her.

"And the hospital will always come first." Serena comments bitterly.

"Professionally-speaking," Hanssen agrees, "yet it seems there is more to life than work."His understanding hurts more than a sarcastic or caustic remark, Serena has no defence against it and a first tear falls, then a second and she starts crying, almost silently.

When her tears slowed, she found her face buried against his suit, one of Hanssen's hands resting on her shoulder, the other tentatively patting her shoulder blade. She clung to him, the smells she associated with him were prominent and clung to the fabric of his suit; disinfectant most noticeably, an inevitable consequence of working in the hospital, everyone's clothes succumbed to it, but underneath the smell of something dark and rich, almost like molasses and something else that she can't identify.

Realising who she has her arms around, Serena hurriedly pulls herself away to resume a professional amount of space. "Sorry," she apologises, feeling awkward at the loss of her composure and stares at the wall next to Hanssen, not quite certain what to do and decides that a strategic retreat may be her best option. She is aware that her outburst will seem out of character to Hanssen as he tries to reconcile the sobbing woman who attached herself to him with the charming, confident, iron-willed firebrand Serena usually portrays to the world.

"Don't apologise, Ms. Campbell." His use of her name catches her attention and she can see how he looks to be choosing his words carefully, "don't forget that I am acquainted with grief and know how it feels to be... to feel like you're drowning in it." Serena wonders if there's something she's missed but Hanssen blinks several times, his face once more expressionless and masked.

* * *

Serena slips out of the corridor and into the ITU ward, pleased to see that Chantelle has gone from her mother's bedside, she makes her way quietly across towards her mother, finding herself disappointed that her mother is fast asleep. She occupies her usual chair and picks up her mother's hand, thinking about Hanssen as she studies her mother's profile.

Since Adrienne's stroke, Hanssen deserved more credit than she'd given him; he had seemed to know when to send her copious amounts of work to distract her and when to let her be and she belatedly accepts that Ric had probably been advising the Swede. Serena hadn't really taken the time to notice before now, too distracted one way or another but Ric had commented the other day on the lack of Hanssen-shaped curses permeating the air in the office they shared.

She recalled how stiff and tense he had been as he'd awkwardly attempted to comfort her when she'd flung her arms around him and wonders when the last time he'd been touched beyond a handshake, come to think of it, Serena herself can't remember the last time she hugged someone that wasn't Adrienne or Eleanor. In spite of his obvious unease and inexperience, he had tried to comfort her. Thinking back, Serena realises that she isn't able to find fault with Hanssen and that in itself is annoying for her; she knows where she stands when she is annoyed at him. She doesn't quite know how to react to this change.

His behaviour is ruining her plan to rid herself of the attraction to him that she's nursing and she's about _this_ close to ditching it completely, throwing all caution to the wind and going after him. Mind still occupied by thoughts of the enigmatic Henrik Hanssen, Serena falls asleep.

* * *

**Not Serena's best day but on the plus side, our favourite Swede does seem to be getting into Serena's good books – clever boy. The next chapter should be up in the next couple of days and is the start of the end of Sahira's second stint at Holby and her leaving is pretty much orchestrated by a determined Serena. Evil laugh. **


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Not much to say here, been a bit poorly so updates have been slow all round. Got a wonderful confrontation brewing between Serena and Sahira in the next chapter.**

**Usual disclaimers apply. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 10.

Serena stares down at her mobile phone – the display has once more gone dark through inattention as she waits for her daughter to send her a text to let her know that she is okay as she promised to do. Tapping a button to reactivate the screen, the sudden display of light from the device momentarily blinds her, a sharp contrast to the dimly lit fourth floor stairway landing and the pitch black of the night smothering Holby.

There is still no message waiting for her and the happily smiling face of her daughter which Eleanor had sneakily set as Serena's wallpaper at some point when she wasn't looking stares back at her and Serena feels like it's mocking her.

'I should never have let her go' she thinks with a huff of frustration beginning to mix with a bit of concern; angry at herself for letting her daughter go off to somewhere in Bristol to see some band that Serena can't remember the name of with a new boyfriend that Eleanor's only known for a matter of weeks that Serena hasn't yet met and she curses her ex-husband's careless decision to let them go unsupervised at sixteen.

She runs her right hand through her hair distractedly, wondering what to do, her relationship with her daughter is still fragile and Serena isn't sure how to respond in a way that won't alienate Eleanor but will convey her displeasure _and_ concern. With colleagues and patients she can usually out-think and out-manipulate them but she's at a loss at how to deal with her daughter at times, especially in the wake of her mother's stroke.

After her mother's stroke, Serena had been angry and scared and so had Eleanor, who had barely spoken to Serena since she'd hung up on her in the hospital, choosing to spend most of her days at college or with this new boyfriend and then spending her nights at her father's.

Intellectually, Serena understands Eleanor's actions – the girl is almost identical to how Serena was at the same age – but it doesn't make it any easier for her to bear. Serena is certain that she was never this unpredictable and volatile until a wry smile escapes and is forced to concede that she was just as bad, if not worse; she had driven her parents to distraction and she makes a mental note: she must ask her own mother for advice the next time she speaks to her, before she once more remembers the events of the previous few weeks and the smile fades and she is angry and upset all over again.

At times like this, Serena finds she misses her ex-husband, one way or another he would have distracted her from her thoughts, although at the moment Serena considers him responsible for creating the situation which is worrying her and if he was here, she'd leave him with no doubt as to her feelings on the matter.

Her thoughts are broken by the sound of heavy, yet graceful footsteps; she'd recognise the cadence anywhere and she is glad that he has chosen to announce his presence to her, rather than simply appearing out of the darkness as he did once before in her office.

Serena imagines that the man could sneak up on a cat if he desired and lost in her thoughts, she almost certainly wouldn't have heard him until too late. She continues staring out of the window, observing Hanssen's reflection as he silently comes to stand beside her, meeting his gaze briefly in the reflection before she looks away. It's felt like forever since his sudden return to Holby and the familiar feeling of the _something_ he generates still hasn't abated and Serena, rather than engage in a futile skirmish with something else beyond her control, is beginning to welcome the reaction for some measure of normality to anchor herself to the chaos which is threatening to consume the rest of her life. She sighs, checking the phone one final time and admitting defeat, she slips it into a pocket.

For one of the first time since he has returned, Serena is glad that it is Hanssen stood next to her rather than someone like Michael or Sacha who would talk or encourage her to talk about whatever is bothering her. His mind will be whirring almost certainly but unless it is a professional matter or threatening to become one, she has found that he is unlikely to pry and she is thankful.

"Do you have any children?" Serena asks the shadow next to her, glancing at his reflection in the window as she breaks the silence. It takes him a few moments to answer to Serena's surprise – it's not exactly a hard question and is a moment away from telling him as much. She knows nothing about this man's personal life but she can't quite picture the stoic Swede as the type to engage in drunken one-night stands, the risk of unclaimed children of his running around seems highly unlikely and so she doesn't understand his delay.

"I do not." She is still looking at his reflection against the night sky and she sees him open his mouth and then shutting it again before finally asking, "why do you ask?"

His question brings Serena back to her current situation with Eleanor and she dislikes how helpless she is feeling. She does not know whether it is the fact that it's a night shift and therefore the normal rules of engagement they seem to abide by during daylight hours do not apply or because they have both attempted to make an effort to be civil to one another but Serena feels like she can explain part of the current predicament.

"I have a daughter, Eleanor." Serena sighs, almost waiting for a comment about when Eleanor turned up on the ward but Hanssen remains silent and Serena can't help but wonder if he hadn't heard about the incident. She'd convinced herself at the time that news of her daughter's antics had been spread all over the hospital.

"She's sixteen and has gone to to a concert in Bristol with a new boyfriend under the agreement that she'd text me by midnight to let me know she got home." She can see Hanssen out of the corner of her eye staring out of the window into the darkness and she knows she has his attention even if it doesn't look like it. "It's that it's half past, I've heard nothing from her and just feel-"

"Betrayed? Deliberately mislead perhaps?" Hanssen offers quietly, although his calm tone has a hint of bite about it. From Serena's first day at Holby, she'd carefully watched and focused on the enigmatic Director of Surgery, trying to understand how to use his nature to her advantage; she is still watching him now although she acknowledges that her motivations have changed and she isn't sure that anyone else would have picked up on the edge in his voice.

She realises that he must have felt similarly after the apparent coup d'etat which culminated in Serena taking his job not long after treating his wounds and appearing to care for him. She sighs and her shoulders sink at the realisation, turning her head slightly to face him; she wasn't aware that it was something he still thought about, then again, she'd have held a grudge much more openly and suddenly gaining his approval or some manner of forgiveness matters to her.

"I never complained to the Chairman. I think that-"

"I am already aware of Ms. Naylor's concerns, she was professional enough to speak to me but I have still to confirm the identity of the second complainant."

"Second?" This is news to Serena and the question leaves her before she can think.

"Mr. Cunningham was all too happy to inform me about the _multiple_ complaints as I was given my summons to appear before the board."

"What did the board say?" Cunningham has kept this information from Serena and it strengthens in her mind, Serena's decision to trust the chairman even less than the little she did.

"I have no idea – I never made it to the meeting."

Serena's mind is whirring until she realises that her silence would be probably taken as an admission of guilt. "It wasn't me." She tries to persuade him, it really wasn't her. "It truly wasn't – I owed you for not making me the scapegoat for the whole non-referral scheme when you were on the TV with the man's son..." Serena's voice trails off as pieces of information suddenly begin to slide into place.

"It was the son that attacked you." Serena voices her realisation out loud and she looks up at Hanssen's face, "why didn't you-"

"It is of no consequence." He dismisses her answer but she knows she is correct by the absence of any denial.

"The hell it isn't." She exclaims fiercely, suddenly feeling quite protective of the tall man stood next to her.

"It bore no relevance or reflection upon-"

"When someone has been stabbed-"

"It was a nail gun, actually." Hanssen states dryly which only serves to ignite Serena's frustration with the man.

"You infuriating man – he could have really hurt you!" 'If he wasn't so bloody tall', Serena thinks to herself that she'd have ended up throttling him by now.

"A shame, for, as I recall, events worked out quite nicely for you in the aftermath of Mr. Mooney's death, did they not?" Serena takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself and not respond to the man's throwaway comment with her first, completely inadvisable thought.

"Yes, because Imelda Cousins was such a success," she can see his lips purse but he remains silent and Serena knows she is right but decides to try and convince him further, "when I called you, it was to get you to come back from whatever end of the earth you'd disappeared off to. If you'd bothered to answer your phone or emails, you would have known that."

"Of course." The patronising tone of voice he employs makes Serena want to elbow him in the solar plexus and her frustration bubbles over.

"Oh, for crying out loud, you stupid giant Swede, get it into your head that-"

"That what?"

She'd fallen silent at the sudden realisation that Hanssen was closer to her than she thought he was when she turned round once more to face him. He seems to be using his body in an unsuccessful attempt to intimidate her; she isn't scared in the slightest but he is generating other physical reactions which she prays fervently that he doesn't become aware of, knowing that would really muck things up six ways from Sunday, not least destroying the fragile truce between them and she tries to remember what she was saying.

"That..."

"Yes?" Hanssen takes half a step closer again and he seems to grow several inches again and she sees his eyes dart all over her face and she accepts that she is probably blushing.

Since Serena's marriage collapsed in fine, explosive fashion as befitted the emotions and tempers of the Campbells, she has had neither the time or the inclination to pursue a relationship of any kind. Serena's response to the events leading up to the end of her marriage was to bury herself in wine and work, to the point that Adrienne stepped in on Eleanor's behalf. Her mother looked after her daughter until Serena got her head together and accepted the situation she found herself in. After a token period of no alcohol, Serena now drinks again; she considers herself disciplined enough not to need to abstain from alcohol, trusting herself not to break the same way twice.

Although she misses the physical intimacy of a relationship, Serena had told herself not long after unintentionally swallowing a portion of her bath one night that she was content with her current situation, not desperate and certainly not desperate enough to make any kind of move at Henrik Hanssen.

But now, looking at the man stood in front of her, genuinely appearing to believe that his being stabbed is of no consequence or not important enough to merit anyone's care, Serena is hit with a need to prove him wrong. Her conscience demands that she demonstrates to Hanssen that at least one person cares about more than Mr. Hanssen, Director of Surgery and CEO. If the casualty of her endeavour is to be the promise and her self-imposed rules, then so be it; Serena's conscience gives a half-hearted shrug, Hanssen's need is greater than her own.

Pausing a moment when somewhere below them, a door slams shut, Serena relaxes when she doesn't hear any footsteps heading in their direction and takes another half-step towards Hanssen, removing the remainder of the distance between them.

"You're a fool," Serena watches his eyes widen slightly, obviously not expecting her words. "Of course it matters, Henrik." His name sounds unfamiliar on her tongue but she considers it appropriate. Hanssen makes no move to restore a more professional distance between them to her relief.

"Don't." He opens his mouth to say something but Serena cuts him off and he remains silent. "You're the most frustrating man I've ever met." She confesses.

"Thank you." Hanssen's lips quirk in amusement as he answers and raising a hand he runs a fingertip along Serena's jaw, making her shiver as he brings his head down to meet hers, "and you, Ms. Campbell-"

Hanssen doesn't finish his sentence, as he talks, Serena can feel his breath against her face, smelling of coffee and faintly of mint when Hanssen suddenly inhales and pulls back, opening up what seems like a huge gap between them.

"What-" A confused Serena raises an eyebrow to see that Hanssen's gaze isn't on her and she follows his line of sight.

On the stairwell landing below them, stands a wide-eyed Sahira Shah.

* * *

**Oh, how I've wanted to do that for a while now! **

**Stay tuned and feel free to drop me a line, let me know what you think.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: This took a little bit of re-writing, I kind of knew what I wanted to say and where I wanted it to go but it took several attempts. **

**Thank you all for your kind reviews and follows for the previous chapter. I agree it was a little cruel to have Sahira appear when she did but all good things come to those who wait (so I'm told). Not much longer now... ;-)**

* * *

Chapter 11.

"_What-" _

Serena follows Hanssen's line of sight until she realises what it is that has caught his attention. Stood on the stairwell landing beneath them is a stunned, wide-eyed Sahira Shah. Serena blinks at the realisation and several possible thoughts and reactions flit through her mind; part of her wants to tell the woman 'fuck off princess, we're busy', turn back to Hanssen and kiss him regardless, effectively sticking two fingers up at the younger consultant.

Unfortunately, Serena knows that Hanssen would never go along with such a plan and his inevitable confusion would affect Serena's credibility in Sahira's eyes. However, Serena does take a moment to observe the expression that Sahira is wearing as she stares at Hanssen, an interesting mix of surprise, shock and almost betrayal that Serena is determined to exploit.

"Ah, Ms. Shah." Serena drawls, drawing Sahira's attention away from Hanssen. Serena knows that the tall Director of Surgery will be next to useless in this instance, the impending confrontation is strictly women-only. "I'm glad I found you," she pauses just long enough to note the change of expression to disbelief in the younger woman before she speaks again.

"I've got some forms which need a Darwin Consultant's signature." The sudden change in topic obviously surprises Sahira, cutting off whatever she was about to say. "As there is no time like the present. Shall we?" Serena's tone of voice appears to be pleasant, as if she isn't unduly bothered by the interruption to the kiss when in reality she just wants to wallop the woman back down the stairs from whence she came.

Placing a smile on her face which she acknowledges as possibly looking a little predatory, Serena moves away from Hanssen her fingers brushing against his hand, feeling his fingers twitch in response. Serena descends down the concrete steps to join Sahira and directs her away through the door to Keller, sparing a quick look back at Hanssen, still stood in the same place as he disappears from sight behind the stairs with an unreadable expression on his face.

* * *

Serena taps out the code for the Keller consultant's office and steps in, turning the light on as she goes; she hasn't wandered into the room without turning the lights on since Hanssen nearly gave her a heart attack that time. The two women had travelled in silence, only pausing for Serena to speak to a nurse as they pass on the ward. Making her way to the familiar desk on the right-hand side of the office, Serena sits in her chair, not offering Sahira a seat, too busy rummaging through the pile of papers on the side of her desk which has become a permanent fixture since she became the Executive Director of Surgery.

Serena is glad that Sahira is so openly confused and off-balance, it gives her a moment to acknowledge and then suppress her own confusion at the scene on the stairwell that Ms. Shah stumbled onto. It was Hanssen's move; Serena was rooted to the spot the moment that he raised a hand to her face and brought his head towards hers to kiss her. She sighs imperceptibly, the near kiss will almost certainly be fuel for her dreams for the near future, a traitorous part of her can't wait.

"Some of the Darwin referral forms were sent to me without a consultant's signature." Serena explains as she finally locates the correct pieces of paper.

"What?"

Serena repeats herself, knowing that she is adding to the younger woman's confusion by not providing an immediate explanation for the scene she witnessed just now as Sahira obviously expected her to do.

"I had rather meant to ask Elliot to come down but you know how many _distractions_ there are in this place." Serena drawls, not bothering to hide her smirk as Sahira's agitated reaction is exactly what Serena intended.

She knows that she has control of the situation and if she plays the exchange correctly, she can assert her dominance over Sahira. Serena can remind the younger woman that regardless of what happened at Holby before, Serena Campbell is here now and won't hesitate to use claws to enforce the new pecking order.

"Chilly this evening, isn't it?" Serena asks deliberately casually, hoping that the continuous mixing up of topics will throw Sahira off-balance long enough for Serena to score a vital victory and she dutifully changes the topic again. "Oh, would you sign just there?"

"Thank you. If you could shut the door quietly on your way out." When Hanssen had said that to Serena once, she'd almost exploded at the rudeness of the dismissal but she recognises its effectiveness and doesn't hesitate to use it against Hanssen's former protégé once the woman has signed where Serena needs her to and she appears to return her attention to another pile of patient notes as she watches Sahira head to the door out of the corner of her eye.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Serena asks innocently as she glances up, amused that it's taken this long for Sahira to find her voice and courage.

"You and Henrik. On the stairs just now."

Serena leans back in her chair and calmly observes Sahira, the woman stood rigidly by the office door; she is aware that her delay in providing an answer is annoying Sahira and briefly, Serena wonders how Hanssen would respond and she smirks as the answer comes to her.

"I fail to see what concern it is of yours."

Judging by the muttered curse and a partial exclamation which sounds suspiciously like 'as bad as Henrik' to Serena's ears, Serena has got the response correct. She watches Sahira push away from the door and she frowns until she realises that the younger consultant is only pacing and relaxes. Hanssen may have been Sahira's mentor but the woman has picked up none of Hanssen's skills of manipulation; the woman is like an open book and obviously distressed and Serena intends to take full advantage and get some answers to questions she would never ask Hanssen.

"Sit down Ms. Shah before you make both of us dizzy." Serena instructs, the woman glares but complies sullenly. "Now, I don't know what your relationship was with him and I don't care. So I fail to see why our relationship is of any interest to you?" There is a time for subtle word play and a time for blunt questions and Serena considers this to be mostly a case for the latter.

"Henrik is my best friend, I... we parted badly when I left, a few parting comments I'm sure we both regret."

"Badly how?"

Sahira huffs.

"Surely you don't need me to tell you how good he is at provoking reactions from people?" Serena remains silent, she is _not_ going to mention what kinds of reactions the Swede is good at provoking in her and looks to change the subject.

"What happened?"

"I told I didn't want to speak to him anymore."

'And your issue is that he listened to you?' Serena maintains a blank expression, realising why Jac Naylor referred to the woman as 'princess', she knows that working on the same ward as Sahira would have tried her patience towards its limits.

"Then why did you accept his job offer?"

"Nottingham isn't what I thought it could be," confesses Sahira sadly and Serena almost feels sorry for her. Almost. "Henrik was right and he knew it; I should never have left. I don't know why I left." Serena frowns, trying to reconcile Sahira's answers with what she knows of the woman.

"And then I saw him at the conference and he didn't seem too different, a little more reserved than I remembered perhaps but I jumped at the chance to work with him again."

'I bet you did' thinks Serena bitterly and she wonders if her jealousy at the time was well-placed.

"Despite the 'parting comments'?" She sees Sahira wince a little and wonders what on earth they said to one another. Although Serena is thankful that she hasn't had much in the way of dealings with Ms. Shah, the few times she has seen her with Hanssen, the Swede had not reacted in the way that Serena expected for one half of a pair that had well over £1,000 riding on a relationship betting pool.

"Forgive me, Ms. Shah – I was under the impression that you were married?" Serena deliberately allows confusion to seep into her voice.

"I am," she sighs. "Rafi and I are... it's a trial separation." Sahira offers a pained smile that Serena understands all too well and is careful to keep her expression blank and respond non-committally.

_"I see."_

"I miss my children though, I've never been away from them for this long before."

"Children?" Serena glances up at Sahira, eyeing her speculatively as a plan begins to form.

"Two boys, four and two."

"And they're staying with your husband?" Serena tries not to think about how the woman has abandoned two small children and her husband on the off-chance of something with an ex-colleague halfway across the country, lest it creep into her tone of voice.

Sahira nods.

"It's perfectly understandable that you would miss them," Serena begins in a tone than anyone else would immediately be wary of. "You have to put your family first or all you'll wake up one day and realise that all you have left is your job."

"It's what I told Henrik," Sahira confides, "although my wording left a bit to be desired. I guess part of me thought that despite what we said, Henrik wouldn't change but it's clear he's moved on." Serena forces herself to meet the younger woman's stare evenly, trying not to give away that there is no relationship between the two, just one near kiss and months of petty arguments and tension.

"If Holby isn't right for you, why don't you return to Nottingham to be with your children?"

"I couldn't do that to Elliot." Sahira answers weakly and Serena smile turns predatory, like a shark closing in on its prey.

"Are you prepared to have say, another eight weeks away from your family?" Serena sits back in her chair, watching the younger consultant debate with her own mind, knowing that she has won and quite possibly removed Sahira in the same move.

A familiar ringtone begins to play in the office and Serena fishes out her mobile from her pocket, determined to silence it but frowns at the device when she sees her ex-husband's name on the screen and she tries not to let the sudden reappearance of her concern about Eleanor show.

"I've got to take this," she doesn't look up at Sahira. "Give me your answer in the morning and I'll talk to Mr. Hanssen for you." Serena waits until the door clicks shut until she answers the incoming call, ready to give her ex-husband a piece of her mind.

_" __Hey Mum." _

Eleanor's voice on the other end of the line stops Serena short for a moment and her initial feeling is one of relief at her daughter's voice, quickly followed by anger. "What time is it now and what time were you going to text me by?"

_"__I know, I'm sorry – the band finished late anyway and then it took a bit of time to find Dad, he's driving us back now and I remembered I hadn't rung you and my battery has died and-"_

"Alright." Serena's curt one-word answer stops Eleanor mid-ramble. "I was worried, I-"

_"__Sorry Mum, I really did mean to call you."_

"What about using your boyfriend's phone?"

_"__Oh... I didn't think about that."_

Serena rolls her eyes, if she had a pound for every time she had heard Eleanor say 'I didn't think'... She sighs, not wanting to argue tonight and pretends to ignore the comment. "Was it a good concert?"

_"__Yeah, it was amazing! Anyway, I gotta go, see you soon Mum, love you!"_

Serena hopes she will see Eleanor soon, she's barely seen her own daughter since her mother's stroke and she misses her. Serena sits in her office chair, absent-mindedly twisting from side to side as her gaze flicks between the door that Sahira left through and her mobile phone, discarded on the desk in front of her. Exhaling forcefully through pursed lips, Serena feels some of the tension disappear with her daughter's phone call and she returns her focus back to the hospital, deciding to do another hour of work before heading to the on-call room for a couple of hours of sleep.

She stops spinning in her chair, sighing slightly as she pockets her mobile, her mind returning to the Director of Surgery. If Serena is perfectly honest with herself, she never really liked her plan of getting over her _thing_ for Hanssen in the first place. Serena knows that she has been lying to herself for months now, she is finally able to admit that she wants more from Hanssen than their current distorted working relationship and judging by his move to kiss her this evening, the possibility of more than a professional relationship isn't an unwelcome one for him.

There is no doubt in her mind that Hanssen was about to kiss her and would have done so, had the unsuspecting Ms. Shah not turned up. The fact that Serena would have kissed Hanssen back went far beyond bending the structure of her plan, it damn well was equivalent to snapping it in half and ripping off the handles.

She has a phone call to make. Reaching a decision, Serena pulls out her mobile from her cardigan pocket and scrolls through her contact list.

_Calling... Jac Naylor_

After all, Serena thinks, she hasn't lasted this long in the cut-throat world of hospital politics without having a few back-up plans and tricks up her sleeve.

* * *

_**AN: Drop me a line, let me know what you think :)**_


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Because it seems in the land of TV and film, people don't work notice periods when they resign, this will be the last chapter to feature Ms. Shah and Jac returns from next time. **

**Usual disclaimers apply and as always, a big thanks to everyone who reads this, hope you're on the way to getting over Tara's death. I never liked her character but it was a brilliant episode and send-off for her. **

* * *

Chapter 12.

The conference room door shuts behind Elliot Hope as he ambles into the room, an iPad and a couple of folders in his arms with a paper bag containing no doubt something unhealthy and enticingly edible balanced precariously on top. Serena watches him with disguised interest as he manoeuvres his way to the nearest available chair, next to Ric and collapses into the seat without dropping anything to her secret disappointment.

"Right, now we're all here," Serena drawls, drawing attention to Elliot's typically late arrival without an outright suggestion, "perhaps we can get started. Now, there is-"

"What about Mr. Hanssen?"

Serena fixes Elliot with a look as the CT consultant interrupts her, she watches him looking around the room to see that Michael, Sahira and Ric are the only other occupants of the room and that the perpetually enigmatic Swedish Director of Surgery is notable by his absence.

"What about Mr. Hanssen?" Serena asks, sounding bored, she's tired and her shift ends after this meeting and is in no mood to hang around.

"Well, he's not here..."

Serena barely resists the urge to snidely comment 'no shit, Sherlock' and glances at Ric who is already frowning at Serena, warning her not to snap so she swallows her second retort as well and tiredly answers the question straightforwardly, wanting to get the meeting over and done with so she can go home and go to bed for a couple of hours.

"Mr. Hanssen is running late this morning, he will join us when he is able to." Serena's deliberately-phrased yet vague answer garners a snort from Michael and Serena would have rolled her eyes at the American's immaturity if she wasn't expecting it.

"Someone's had a good night then."

"You'll have to ask him yourself, Michael." Serena says sweetly, aware of Sahira's uncomfortable reaction in the corner of her peripheral vision. "Right, well if we could finally make a start instead of speculating on what Mr. Hanssen did last night?"

Elliot's presentation had the usual effect on Serena of making her mind wander as the older consultant rambles on about inconsequential details before returning to the subject. Making the decision to read Elliot's notes later, Serena allows her mind to drift to the events of the previous night. She'd rung Jac Naylor, informing her of the development with Sahira and Jac had sounded amused, she'd also agreed to return to Holby next week, muttering something about finding cupcake crumbs on her desk before hanging up.

Having done another half hour of work, Serena had left her office, striding across the ward to find the 'on call' room locked and already occupied and she'd sighed, resting her head lightly against the door. Running her fingers through her hair as she'd straightened up, she'd tiredly contemplated and discarded her options: on call room - already taken; Keller's relative's room - too bright; her office - too noisy; the sofa in Hanssen's office - probably already taken by a certain Swede; the morgue – too cold.

Resigning herself to another fitful night's sleep in her office, Serena remembers her mother in the stroke ward and decides to spend the night there instead as she has done on a couple of previous occasions. The chair isn't any comfier than her office but it's more peaceful and she tells a nurse where she'll be.

"Page me if you need me," she informs the woman and wanders off the ward, making the trip along the now-familiar corridors to the stroke ward.

Serena glances through the window at her mother's form in the darkened side room and sighs, wondering how much longer she'll have to stay in hospital for. The enforced stay is already starting to drive her mother mad. Serena wonders if she should enquire about taking her home and grimaces as she imagines Chantelle eager to visit, to continue their speech therapy together.

She huffs, Serena had attempted something similar without any success, her patience obviously less elastic than the ever-smiling blonde nurse's; opening the door quietly and slipping inside, Serena admits that if Chantelle's company makes her mother happy and helps her recovery, she'll put up with the sometimes vacuous blonde's presence in her home on a semi-regular basis.

Pulling off her cardigan to act as a makeshift blanket, Serena lowers herself into the chair at her mother's bedside, tucking the woollen material around her as she settles down, glad to be off her feet. Despite wanting to stay awake to work through the events of tonight and their implications, Serena finds her eyes drooping shut and after a while she concedes the fight against sleep.

When Serena had arrived in the conference room this morning, she had found Sahira waiting for her, sat in the seat nearest the door and without saying a word, slid a white envelope across the table. Serena had looked at the woman while she opened it and glanced down, realising that it was the consultant's resignation letter.

When Serena realises that she has 'won', it doesn't bring her the satisfaction that she had imagined it would. "I'll see this is dealt with today." Sahira nods and the two women sit in a slightly tense silence until Michael and Ric arrive, chatting away.

* * *

Suddenly realising that Elliot has finished and is waiting for Serena's input, she scrambles for some kind of an answer, glancing back down at the writing pad in front of her which is filled with notes from Sahira's presentation and she nods, mostly for show before looking up.

"Well, if both you and Ms. Shah are in agreement that this course of action is the most appropriate on this day for this patient then by all means, full steam ahead." Elliot's face breaks out into a smile which Serena politely returns, electing to scribble something else down on the pad, to make it look like she's paid some kind of attention.

"Right, ok, Michael." Serena turns to the American with a grin, "what have you got to say for yourself?" Seeing the smirk forming on his face, Serena cuts him off, "on second thoughts, don't answer that, just get up there."

When Michael is a few minutes into his presentation, the conference room door opens and the doorway is filled by the familiar, tall silhouette of the Director of Surgery. Serena watches his movement across the conference room, not taking her eyes off him and feeling childishly gleeful as he takes the seat next to her, ignoring the fact that it was the only available seat, asking in a low tone how it's gone. Serena replies in an equally quiet voice that it's been fine so far and asks about his earlier meeting.

"Are you two done whispering?" Michael asks smugly and Serena realises that they've been caught conversing. "Do I have to separate you?" She glares at the smirking American who breaks into a grin.

"My apologies, Mr. Spence." Hanssen answers placidly before Serena can retort and she huffs quietly at the missed opportunity as Michael launches straight back into his patient presentation without missing a beat. Serena notices that Sahira avoids looking at either her or Hanssen and she suspects that the rift between the former mentor and protégé is wider than she thought.

Although Michael's presentation is much more engaging than Elliot's had been, the close proximity of Hanssen begins to distract Serena. Acutely aware of how close he is makes her attention wanders again, her mind picking up where it had left off when she realised Elliot required a response from her.

* * *

Serena had drifted towards consciousness aware of several things, the first was that she wasn't in her own bed and she was still in her clothes and she recalled that she was on a night shift, or had been judging by the ambient light now in the room. The third was that she had a stiff neck, from the angle that she'd slept at and the fourth was that she and her mother weren't alone in the room. Cracking open an eye, Serena makes out the tall, ever-suited figure of Hanssen, reading her mother's notes and she watches him for a few moments, making no effort to suppress the now-familiar reaction and feeling of warmth that seeing the man generates.

Hanssen seemed to become aware of her scrutiny and looks up suddenly and knowing she's been caught, Serena casually offers him a small smile. "Morning." Serena mumbles, sleepily rubbing her neck as she stands, stiff from the awkward angle she'd slept at.

"Good morning, Ms. Campbell," Hanssen responds, Serena is unaware of the way he watches her as she pulls on her cardigan, running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to look almost presentable rather than the 'just woken up' look she is almost certainly sporting. "I take it that all went well with Ms. Shah?"

"Fine. Why wouldn't it be?" Serena blinks, not expecting such a blunt reminder from the man. "Besides, it was only a couple of forms that needed signing." She can see that he doesn't believe her.

"I see." Hanssen replies after a moment, when he realises that Serena isn't going to tell him anything else. He puts the her mother's observations folder back into its holder at the end of the bed, shifting his weight from foot to foot and Serena watches him, allowing her eyes to fall to his torso, across the immaculate suit, waistcoat and shirt and she frowns.

"Hang on," his head snaps up and Serena realises what has been niggling at her about Hanssen's appearance this morning. "How can you manage to look so smart after a night shift?" She questions, ignoring Hanssen's raised eyebrow, "when I know that I always manage to age at least ten years." She mutters, almost annoyed at the fact that she knows he has been on call and on site but he has no wrinkled clothing or even a hair out of place.

"Quite the contrary, Ms. Campbell, you look... as usual." Hanssen responds awkwardly, his body language a departure from the usual confidence he projects and Serena thinks it's rather endearing but refrains from voicing that opinion.

"I'm not sure what that says about how I usually look..." she smirks when he meets her gaze, lips quirking when he realises that she's teasing him.

"Yes, well." Serena frowns a little, Hanssen has been awkward and uncertain of himself throughout their whole exchange. She hopes it is because he doesn't know how to act around a colleague that he almost kissed rather than genuine regret-based awkwardness at his actions, she swallows, not wanting to consider that possibility.

Serena watches as Hanssen suddenly straightens, his gaze somewhere over her left shoulder and she follows it to see her mother awake and watching the two of them curiously. "Mum? Do you want a drink?"

Stepping around Hanssen, Serena moves towards the water jug on the other side of the bed. "Wait a moment," she asks quietly as she passes Hanssen. Having poured a drink and passed it to her mother, Serena looks back towards Hanssen.

"My presence is required at a steering committee breakfast meeting," he stiffly informs her. "It is likely to overrun. In that event, could I impress upon you to lead this morning's senior consultant's meeting in my absence?"

"Of course-"

"Very well." Hanssen nods and turns to leave. "Ms. Campbell, Mrs. McKinnie." Serena watches him glide out of the room before turning back to face her mother.

"I've got to go, Mum. I've got a senior consultant's meeting to referee in a few minutes. I'll come and see you this evening, hopefully Eleanor will be with me." Serena isn't above using her daughter as a distraction to avoid being questioned herself and knows that Adrienne would love to see Eleanor and she presses a kiss to her forehead and slips out of the door, hoping to catch up with Hanssen but sees no sign of the Swede. Ruing her missed opportunity, Serena heads back towards Keller to check on her patients before heading back to the fifth floor for the senior consultant's meeting.

* * *

"Ok, let's draw a line there, we've all got other things to be doing today." Serena brings the meeting to a close, surprised that Hanssen continued to allow her to lead the meeting after his arrival. "Thank you all very much for your input this morning." She remains in her seat as the others file out, not sparing a glance for the female CT consultant as she leaves. Serena gathers her things together, placing the white envelope on top so that it will remind her to head to HR before she goes home.

She turns to Hanssen, determined to talk to him about what happened last night, to reassure him if that is what he needs but before she can talk to him, he enquires after the envelope with both of their names written in a rounded cursive. Serena watches Hanssen out of the corner of her eye as he opens the white envelope that Sahira had given her at the start of the meeting. She waits for some kind of reaction as his eyes skim over the typed words.

"Ms. Shah gave this to you?" Hanssen seeks to clarify and Serena straightens up, nodding. "I see. Did she inform you of her personal reasons?" Serena swallows as she meets Hanssen's gaze in an attempt to buy an extra second or two as she debates quite what to say to the man. In the end, it's the memory of Sahira's seeming indifference at leaving her family behind which makes her decision for her.

"Some of them," Serena confirms with a sneer. "I believe she suddenly remembered that you can't just up and leave your children and partner to run away and play Doctor halfway across the country."

"Ms. Campbell-"

"I mean, what kind of person would-" Serena stops mid-sentence as she sees Hanssen turn away, "are you okay?"

"Fine." He answers curtly, gathering the last of his files together. "I shall get HR to action Ms. Shah's resignation with immediate effect." He turns on the spot and Serena watches him stride from the room without another word, wondering what it was that she said.

Unable to come up with an answer for the man's behaviour, Serena shrugs, rubbing her eyes as she leaves the conference room, too tired to try and figure out the man just now. It's only when she gets to the door that she realises that they _still_ haven't spoken about last night.

* * *

**AN: I'm sure Serena will find out one day what she said to cause that reaction. Until then!**

**Next chapter is mostly written already, it's Serena's birthday and does distort the time-line (by delaying (and possibly ignoring - I haven't decided yet) Tara's operation). However, there is a development (a good one btw). **

**Stay tuned.**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN:** **Does anyone know _where _Albie's actually is? I assume it isn't in the main hospital building but separate but also assume that it can't be too separate as the characters seem to be able appear there suddenly without too much trouble or shortness of breath...**

**It's a mystery!**

**Anyway, usual disclaimers and all that jazz. As always, many thanks to everyone who reads and especially those who review – I keep telling myself that I'll reply to them but I never quite manage to get around to it but I do appreciate and read every single one. **

**A quick thanks to sdbubbles who suggested the date for Serena's birthday. It's a long-ish chapter but it's a (hopefully) good one. **

**I had meant to update this yesterday or Friday evening but I had a wedding to go to yesterday which I'd forgotten about and it was only seeing the groom on Friday night that reminded me; how can anyone forget a wedding? Quite easily it turns out! At least it wasn't my wedding!**

**Onwards!**

* * *

Chapter 13.

Wednesday 17th April 2013 dawned bright and clear in Holby, if a little cold and Serena reluctantly made her way out of the warm duvet she had cocooned herself in during the night and straight into a hot shower.

After ten or fifteen minutes, Serena steps out of the bathroom, dressed in her faded pink terry-cloth dressing gown that she'd had since before Eleanor had been born; a present from her mother-in-law that Serena had found herself unable to part with, even during the most bitter moments of her divorce. She had remained on surprisingly good terms with her mother-in-law throughout it all, until the woman's death.

Looking around the landing, Serena frowns and sniffs, concerned at the burning that she can smell and she follows her nose to the kitchen, her mind conjuring all kinds of nightmarish possibilities and she opens the kitchen door, to find Eleanor engrossed on her mobile phone, oblivious to the smoke emanating from the grill behind her.

"Eleanor!"

Serena's cry rouses her daughter into action who swears and takes out the grill tray which has the remains of what was once probably bacon. "Open a window before the smoke alarm goes off," she instructs, thinking that it's too early to be dealing with a shrieking fire alarm and she crossly curses her daughter's obsession with her mobile phone.

"Just pay attention," Serena scolds as Eleanor apologises, slipping her mobile into a pocket. Poking at the cremated remains of her daughter's breakfast with a fork, Serena observes, "I think you'd be better off having cereal this morning – this is beyond saving."

"It wasn't for me," Eleanor says dejectedly and Serena frowns.

"Oh, is Gabby staying over?" Serena had gotten in after a late shift and had gone straight to bed after calling a goodnight to Eleanor in the living room as she went up the stairs. Eleanor shoots her a look of such confusion that Serena hopes for her sake that Eleanor hasn't snuck her boyfriend into the house. "Who is this for then?"

"You." Eleanor tells her as if it's the most obvious answer in the world.

"Me? Why?" Serena's suspicion hasn't abated, although her relationship with Eleanor is vastly improved compared the time of her mother's stroke, Serena is far from convinced that it's at the point where Eleanor would willingly get up long before she had to just to make her mother a bacon sandwich.

"Why do you think, Mum?" Eleanor smiles, "it's your birthday, silly – I was going to make you breakfast."

"No it isn't; my birthday isn't until..." Serena trails off as she works out the days in her head, "...today." More than a little surprised, Serena wonders where the first half of April has disappeared to.

"Told you!" Eleanor tells her, throwing her arms around Serena who welcomes the rare show of affection from her daughter. "I can't believe you forgot your own birthday; you're obviously getting forgetful in your old age, Mum."

"Eleanor." Serena chastises.

"Nope! You can't be angry with me on your birthday," Serena is cheerfully informed and she raises an eyebrow, wondering what on earth kind of logic her daughter is using to reach that conclusion.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that one."

"Oh yeah? I reckon I could take you in a fight," Eleanor laughs, causing Serena to smile at the reappearance of her happy-go-lucky daughter rather than the emotional and volatile version which had taken her place over the last couple of months, "anyway, I got you presents."

Eleanor moves away and turns to the kitchen sideboard; Serena's gaze immediately lands on the tall bag which is the right size for a bottle of wine and she frowns as she reads the tag.

_To Mum, _

_Happy Birthday, _

_Love Eleanor x_

She lifts the bottle carefully, surprised when she sees the make, "how did you get this?" Her daughter is looking very pleased with herself when Serena turns to face her. Serena glances from the bottle back to her daughter a couple of times – Eleanor isn't old enough to buy it or have enough money to justify buying it even if she was able to.

"Dad brought it, he said you'd like it." Serena opens her mouth but doesn't say anything in response to Eleanor's completely unexpected answer and shuts her mouth again. "I think he misses you, Mum."

* * *

Serena spends the morning in a strange daze, attempting to keep herself busy on the ward until Ric arrives to take over, leaving Serena to her paperwork but her thoughts keep returning to Eleanor's comment about her father, Serena's ex-husband this morning.

"_I think he misses you, Mum."_

Serena hadn't known what to make of it. She had huffed and dismissed it at the time, trying not to let Eleanor see how much the unexpected comment had shaken her. Ever since her meeting with Hanssen on the stairs the week before, Serena had slowly come to the realisation that whilst perhaps not quite ready for a full-blown relationship, she actually wanted something more than her current non-existent love life.

Serena hastily checks the email she has just composed to Cunningham, hoping that her subconscious musings haven't leaked over into what she's written, lest she give the Chairman the impression that she is interested in his semi-persistent dinner invites. She smirks as she imagines Cunningham's reaction if she was to confess no interest in him due to her intention to romantically pursue the aloof Swedish Director of Surgery. Thankfully finding no trace of anything to cause concern, Serena signs her name and send the email, closing the window without looking to see if she has any new messages, glad to be able to tick another task off her never-ending 'to do list'.

"Still going?" Ric ambles into their shared office, depositing a few files onto his desk and Serena feels jealous that Ric's workload means he can get away being so sedate and placid while she is forced to slave away at what feels like 100mph all day, every day.

"I haven't stopped since the middle of January," Serena mutters, loud enough for her colleague to hear, "running away to the middle of nowhere for eight weeks sounds like a bloody marvellous idea..." Serena trails off wistfully, wondering if she would choose to go somewhere hot or cold.

She hears Ric snort with amusement and it breaks her out of her daydream. "What?" She asks, looking up, seeing him paused half-out of the door.

"You know, you wouldn't have to work as hard all the time if you were more organised." He teases and Serena reacts, picking up the nearest item to her, a pen, and throws it in Ric's direction. Her missile misses him, hitting the door and skittering out somewhere onto the ward.

She should have guessed by Ric's amused expression that some kind of dig was on its way. She is prevented from making the verbal retort on the tip of her tongue by the appearance of the Director of Surgery behind Ric's right shoulder, Serena's errant pen in his hand.

"I shall assume then, it was an accident, how Ms. Campbell's pen came to land halfway across the ward, near bed eight?" Serena holds her tongue, knowing that her response of 'it was Ric's fault', although true, won't be well-received. Swallowing, Serena concedes the point and accepts Hanssen's explanation and nods. "I see."

"One moment, Mr. Griffin." Hanssen instructs as Ric behind him goes to leave and Serena tries not to smirk at Ric's surprise as she takes back her pen from Hanssen. "As you're both here – this afternoon's management meeting has been pushed back by thirty minutes; I have an urgent meeting between Professor Hope and one of his students to supervise."

"You could have just emailed." Serena comments as she searches through a pile of paper for her diary, updating the meeting time and misses the look Hanssen sends her.

Serena can't work the man out, his mind seems to operate in unintelligible ways. In the week since their encounter on the stairwell, Hanssen has been reserved and stiltedly professional with her, to the extent that Serena had caught herself wondering if she had misread Hanssen's actions before deciding that she hadn't.

He _had_ been about to kiss her and not for the first time, Serena curses Sahira Shah's lack of timing and tact; instead of stepping away, upon seeing Hanssen about to kiss someone to give the fiercely private man some privacy, the woman had made enough noise to distract him and prevent the kiss. 'Pathetic', Serena fumes, the woman has returned to Nottingham and is still causing Serena problems.

Now, as far as Serena is concerned, the Director of Surgery obviously regretted his actions for one reason or another and a tension had developed between the two of them which was as unwelcome as Sahira Shah herself.

Even Michael Spence had noticed Hanssen's recent behaviour towards Serena and although savvy enough not to question it in front of both of them, he had broached the subject to Serena in theatre as they're stood over a ruptured spleen. Michael's initial assumption that Serena was probably to blame riled her but he seemed to accept her protestations that she truly didn't know the reasoning for the Swede's recent treatment of her. Serena had glanced up at the American, trying to imagine his reaction if she casually confessed her suspicion that it was linked to their near-kiss.

Serena realises that she has missed Hanssen's response, her mind elsewhere but nods without further comment, not bothered about his answer and fed up with his behaviour. She returns her attention back to the pile of work in front of her, only half-listening as the two men exit the office, determined to make the most of the extra half hour she has gained. Pushing all thoughts of the world's most frustrating Swede out of her mind, Serena blinks and focuses back on the spreadsheet in front of her.

* * *

"Well, I shalln't waste any more of your time this afternoon." Hanssen begins to tidy his papers and folders, signalling the end of the Senior Consultants meeting and dismissing them. Jac and Elliot rise and are the first to leave, still not agreeing on the course of action decided for one of their patients as they head out of the room and disappear down the corridor.

Serena leaves with Ric and Michael. The American is making plans to celebrate Serena's birthday at Albie's and Serena indulges him, sharing an amused smile with Ric. She isn't sure _how_ Michel found out it was her birthday today but for once she had no serious objections to his light teasing and enthusiastic greeting this morning when she popped over to AAU to get some patient discharge figures.

The three of them are slowly making their way down the corridor when a familiar dark figure joins their group, lightly brushing against Serena as he walks and she successfully suppresses a small shiver, silently cursing the effect he has on her.

"Do you mind my asking of the occasion which is demanding a celebration of such magnitude, Mr. Spence?" Serena thinks Hanssen sounds almost wary of the answer and she is about to disabuse him of the notion that there is an _occasion_ at all when Ric beats her to it.

"It's Serena's birthday today." Hanssen nods and looks at her for a few moments with an unreadable expression on his face until he stops outside his office, opening one of the doors.

"I see." He comments before disappearing into the office, closing the door smartly behind him and Serena stares open-mouthed and stunned at the lightly coloured wood door.

"Is wishing someone 'Happy Birthday' really so hard?" She fumes, ignoring her two colleagues who are fighting to keep a straight face and strides towards the lift, angrily stabbing the button for the fourth floor when it arrives, still muttering about the socially inept Director of Surgery when Ric and Michael catch up with her and enter the lift before the doors shut.

"Yeah I'd say so," Michael answers unnecessarily and she suspects he's doing so purely to wind her up. "Then again, maybe he's just shy; after all, you don't look a day over fifty five." The American hides behind Ric as Serena takes a threatening step towards him in the small lift carriage.

"We'll make sure you have a lovely time," Ric intervenes, "even without Mr. Hanssen's blessing." Serena glares.

* * *

Serena makes her way back to her office from Albie's; she'd left her keys on her desk, thinking that she wouldn't need them as she'd be getting a taxi home if Michael's estimates of the upcoming alcohol consumption were even vaguely accurate. However, after her second glass of wine, she'd remembered that her house keys were attached to the key ring and she would need them once the taxi dropped her off. Promising to return in a few minutes, Serena had slipped out of the loud room and headed back up to the fourth floor, waving away Ric's offer of company and laughing at his promise to come looking for her if she wasn't back in ten minutes.

Tapping out the pass code on the office, Serena unlocks the door and steps into the dark room. Switching on the overhead light, she is relieved and a little disappointed that there isn't a Swede lurking in her office again. The reminder of Hanssen's rudeness earlier in the day causes her to mutter to herself as she stalks across the room to her desk, still frustrated at his behaviour, comparing his actions to those of a small child.

Finding her keys where she'd left them in the top drawer of her desk, Serena pockets them. Sparing a quick look around the office she shares with Ric, Serena decides that all is as it should be and she makes her way out of the room, reversing the route she came only a few minutes earlier, mindful of the way that Ric promised to come looking for her if she doesn't reappear within the allotted time.

"Come on, you bloody lump of metal." Serena huffs, repeatedly pressing the lift button but it ignores her summons and stubbornly remains located on the fifth floor and after a few moments she gives up, sneering at the still-closed lift doors as she heads down the stairs instead.

Serena pauses on the first floor, partly to allow two nurses to pass and partly to catch her breath. An ambulance with its blue lights flashing pulls up outside the main Wyvern entrance and Serena looks out over the staff car park. She is so distracted by the goings on that she almost misses the tall, dark figure of Henrik Hanssen as he slips past the crew, sparing a brief look and a quick nod to one of the attending doctors. Serena's gaze hones in on the Swede and she frowns, determined to have a word with the Director of Surgery.

Charging down the final flight of stairs in pursuit of her target, Serena reaches the side exit of the hospital as Hanssen reaches his car. Having put something onto his passenger seat, he then moves around to open the driver's door.

"Mr. Hanssen." Serena calls, watching as the man pauses, half-in and half-out of his car. Serena calls out again as she draws up to the car, suddenly realising that she hasn't got a clue _what_ she is going to say to the man now she is stood in front of him.

"Ms. Campbell?" Hanssen sounds uncertain until she passes under one of the street lamps and he can determine that it is her. He has climbed back out of his car in the meantime and shut the door and is now looking down at her with a concerned expression as she draws nearer to him, stood between their cars, still breathing more heavily than she would like. "Is everything ok?"

"I wanted to catch you before you left." A click and two quick flashes of orange light distract her for a moment and she realises that Hanssen has locked his car, ready to follow her back into the hospital, obviously anticipating some manner of medical emergency. Serena raises an arm to stop him before he can stride off, "there's no emergency, it's not..."

She trails off again, not quite sure how to finish the sentence and starting to feel like approaching Hanssen was a foolish and reckless idea. Hanssen waits for her to elaborate and she's reminded of another difference between him and her ex-husband. He would have attempted to continue doing whatever it was that he was doing without listening or possibly asked distractedly if it could wait if she was lucky, compared to Hanssen's utter stillness as he waits and she isn't sure how she feels about that at the moment and files the information away for later.

"Well, if it is not an emergency," Hanssen states when Serena doesn't speak, bringing his car keys back into view, "it can wait until the morning. Send me an email and I'll look into the issue." Serena feels like she could hit the man in frustration, she doesn't know if his behaviour is the result of his actions or if it is something that she has done and decides to call him on it.

"What is it? What have I done to offend you?" Hanssen looks unimpressed at the question.

"You have said many things to me, Ms. Campbell with varying degrees of offence taken." He tilts his head slightly, contemplating her. "Why the sudden interest?"

"Oh for crying out loud." Serena turns away but stops after taking a step before turning back to face Hanssen, moving closer to him with each statement "You're hardly blameless, you drive me mad; I don't know if you do it on purpose but it works and..." She knows she probably shouldn't be voicing these thoughts out loud and blames the wine she's had for loosening her tongue.

"And?" Hanssen mimics, eyebrows raised.

The next thing she is aware of, Serena has closed the remaining gap between them and pressed her lips to his. The kiss is uncertain and a little uncoordinated at first but absolutely perfect as far as she's concerned as she tries to coax a reaction, thrilled when his lips move against hers. Hanssen's hands find their way to rest on her shoulders, his fingers gripping the material of her shirt and Serena slips her arms under his suit jacket, too busy to feel self-conscious at how thin he is compared to her. She has no idea how long the kiss lasts but Serena pulls away, knowing that she's probably grinning like a loon.

"Happy birthday Ms. Campbell." She smirks as Hanssen blinks a couple of times, slowly raising a hand through her peripheral vision to brush an errant lock of hair off her face.

"Oh, it is _now_." Serena tells him before remembering Ric's promise to come and find her, she doesn't want him to see this. "I've got to go," she smiles and practically floats back towards Albie's, leaving Hanssen staring after her.

* * *

**Is it really going to be that easy? Stay tuned.**

**Drop me a line, let me know what you think.**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Hi all. First things first, thank you all very much for your continued interest in this story. Thank you all for your lovely reviews, comments and follows, it's much appreciated and quite humbling to know that you seem to enjoy my ramblings :-)**

**Yes, I agree, 13 chapters is a bit of a wait for a kiss, it was never meant to be that long, apologies. Although, I couldn't have made it much earlier or it wouldn't have worked for me and if I felt it was a little rushed, it was likely to come across as as forced and as awkward as a conversation with Digby. **

**The usual disclaimers apply, I'm only borrowing the characters and playing in the Holby sandbox, I'll put them back where I found them, when I'm done.**

**Onwards!**

* * *

Chapter 14.

Serena is up, showered, dressed and has one boot on, car keys in her hand by the time that she remembers that she not only has the next couple of days off work but that her car is still parked at the hospital. She got a taxi home last night after her small birthday gathering at Albie's; after she had returned from picking up her keys, Serena had another drink before calling it a night, ignoring Michael's jibes about her advancing age and had made it home just in time to prevent Eleanor discovering Serena's last stash of chocolate.

Serena had swapped her days off with Ric; he was originally the on-call consultant for the weekend but wanted to spend the days visiting his daughter and grandson instead. Serena had readily agreed to the swap, spotting an opportunity to catch up on her paperwork without any electives getting in the way, although she concedes that she doesn't spend much time in theatre these days thanks to a combination of Hanssen and the European Working Time Directive. She had also been meaning to sort out and tidy up the office for some time and the chance to do so without Ric present is too good to miss.

The only potential snag in Serena's plan was Eleanor but when Serena suggested visiting Adrienne, her daughter had happily agreed and had begun talking about what books she could read to her grandmother to Serena's relief.

Electing to savour the opportunity for a relaxed, sit-down breakfast instead of the usual hastily-buttered piece of toast she inhales on her way out of the door as she attempts to beat the worst of the Holby rush hour traffic, Serena removes her shoe and heads back to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

Waiting for the water to boil, Serena sits herself in the kitchen and absent-mindedly flicks through one of her daughter's college textbooks that Eleanor had left on the kitchen table as she waits for her daughter to surface, amused at some of her daughter's comments in the margins.

As has become standard for the past few months, Serena's thoughts turn to Hanssen. She frowns, recalling the way he'd treated her yesterday afternoon, not even offering a birthday greeting after Ric let the occasion slip. She remembers spotting him later on as she headed back to Albie's and how she'd gone charging over to him.

She'd kissed him.

He'd kissed her.

Serena can't quite help the smile that the memory evokes and as she hears Eleanor's tired footsteps along the hall, towards the kitchen, she hides her expression behind her mug of tea, wishing she didn't have to wait until Monday to see the world's most frustrating Swede again.

Thursday passes rather quickly, after having gone back to the hospital to pick up her car, Serena was surprised to see the ever-present black Volvo notable by its absence. She had stood for a moment on the same spot as she had last night before smiling to herself and getting into the car, heading off to the supermarket. Once back, she had spent the rest of the morning hoovering and cleaning, piling all of Eleanor's things together from the various scattered locations throughout the house.

The afternoon had brightened up and so Serena had put on some old clothes and pottered around in the garden, trying to pretend she knows what is and isn't a weed. After enjoying a chat with her neighbour, Serena heads back inside to shower, musing that if she had a week of this, she would be ready to take over the world and Hanssen wouldn't stand a chance.

She smiles at the thought and at how she finds herself wanting to see the Swede again. "So much for that master plan," Serena comments to herself as she steps out of the shower.

Thursday night, she and Eleanor had a curry followed by some ice cream whilst buried under a duvet, watching a film and Serena considers that the previous 24 hours have been the best she's had for a long time. She can't deny that her brief time away from the never-ending demands and frustrations of the hospital has been wonderful. Friday passes in a similar vein and Serena catches up on the remainder of the housework, wondering how long it will be before Hurricane Eleanor returns the living room to its former messy state again.

The weekend passes without incident and Serena relishes the chance to clear her inbox and complete almost all of the tasks that she had set herself. Eleanor barely left Adrienne's bedside and Serena is almost at the point of wondering if they are plotting something but dismisses the thought and spends Sunday afternoon with them instead of in her office.

* * *

Early on Monday morning, Serena parks her car at the hospital in her usual parking spot, next to Hanssen's. His black Volvo is already parked in its spot and Serena glances up and around her, hoping to see a familiar, tall and looming shadow at one of the windows.

"Madness." Shaking her head at her own foolishness, Serena retrieves her bag and heads into the hospital and up to Keller on the fourth floor.

She is in a good mood and buys a coffee for Ric, smirking at his momentary wariness as she presents it to him. "It's not poisoned," she teases him, sticking her tongue out. Her good mood doesn't vanish but dims considerably when her eyes land on the state of her email inbox.

"Fuck me sideways," she exclaims, causing Ric to choke on his drink as she scrolls down the page – she can't seriously have this many emails already. "Sorry." She offers Ric a distracted apology, waving a hand in his general direction.

"Do I want to ask?" Ric enquires, his tone of voice wary as he recovers from his coughing.

"See for yourself," Serena turns the screen away from her, towards Ric who shrugs, unable to see what the issue is, the screen too far away. "I have come in to 117 emails this-"

Serena pauses her explanation momentarily as her laptop pings again and she frowns at the screen. "No, make that 118 emails now." She sighs. "Our ever-delightful chairman is jumping on the bandwagon as well." Serena is glad that she is mostly off the ward today, it's going to take her at least 45 minutes just to sort what needs deleting let alone reading any of the messages.

Serena is on the ward not long after, talking a patient through her upcoming procedure, trying to reassure Mrs. Feldman and her overly-protective husband that there was nothing to worry about with the upcoming operation; the risks were minimal and the odds were in Mrs. Feldman's favour of being discharged within the next 72 hours.

After the third or fourth time of answering the same questions, Serena sighs imperceptibly, reminding herself that Mrs. Feldman will be very much anaesthetised during the procedure, unable to talk and that her slightly odd husband won't be anywhere near the operating theatre.

She glances around the ward, hoping to spot someone like Digby that she can palm the couple off onto for the time being while she does something more productive than stand at bed 6 and repeat herself until she loses her voice. Frustratingly, Serena can't spot the F1 but her gaze stops for a moment at the far end of the ward on another dark-haired man.

Henrik Hanssen is stood next to Chantelle Lane, towering over the nurse who is happily talking him through something. As Serena's gaze lands on him, the Director of Surgery seems to sense he's being watched and looks up directly at Serena.

Mrs. Feldman picks that moment to ask another questions and Serena reluctantly tears her focus away from Hanssen, back to her patient in front of her, hoping that she isn't blushing like a Belisha beacon.

"Yes, Mrs. Feldman, I'll be doing your procedure myself." Serena confirms, trying to think about the upcoming operation, rather than the memory of Hanssen's lips moving against her as they kissed in the hospital car park. It's the first time she has seen the Swede since her birthday and he has caught her by surprise – she hadn't anticipated seeing him so early on in the day.

"Yes, it's a procedure I've done many, many times without complications." Serena addresses the husband's repetitive concerns, slightly stung by and feeling quite fed up by his muttered comment about luck. "Or perhaps it is because I'm very good at my job, Mr. Feldman? I'll send a nurse over to get you ready for theatre closer to the time; if you'll excuse me."

Barely resisting the urge to bow sarcastically, Serena stalks away from the bed, disappointed to see that Chantelle is now on the phone at the nurses' station and there is no sign of Hanssen. With a huff of frustration, Serena then turns on the spot and heads towards her office. The door is ajar and Serena steps through and almost straight into six and a half feet of suited Swede. Resisting the temptation of deliberately engineering a collision, Serena steps to one side.

"Mr. Hanssen," She greets him brightly. "What brings you down here?"

"The matter has been been resolved."

"Oh right, ok." She smiles at him, ignoring his flat tone. "I was wondering-"

Serena had been about to ask if she could have a quick word with him but before she could, the tall Swede turns and walks away, cutting her off mid-sentence and Serena snaps her mouth shut, wondering what his problem is. Hanssen's actions are like a bucket of cold water and Serena watches him step out of the office and out of sight. _That_ was not the first meeting she had been expecting and she glances over to Ric.

"What was that all about?"

Ric shrugs, unhelpfully and Serena pinches the bridge of her nose as she contemplates the Swede's behaviour. Telling herself that Hanssen is just having a bad day and not to take it personally. It would be just her luck that the first man she has kissed or even wanted to kiss since her marriage ended acts like a jerk afterwards.

Despite her annoyance, she'd noticed how pronounced the shadows under Hanssen's eyes have become and knowing better than to follow and ask him, Serena decides to ask Ric if anything had happened which would have led to Hanssen's almost ill look while she was off work the end of last week. Ric considers her question for a moment, taking his glasses off his nose before he answers.

"I'm not sure; Elliot suggested that something is brewing on Darwin with at least one of the staff but he wouldn't say what." Serena frowns, her mind already assigning the blame to Jac Naylor, the woman has only been back for ten days and Ric continues speaking, interrupting her thoughts. "Don't start asking questions, Hanssen is involved apparently and dealing with it."

Serena nods and holds her hands up in a gesture of surrender almost relieved at the thought that she isn't the cause of Hanssen's temporary loss of manners. She sits back down behind her desk and stares at the inbox full of emails, her relaxed few days off already seem like a lifetime ago. Her mind wandering as Serena returns her attention to deleting emails, she thinks of Hanssen and how they seem to have taken one step forward and two steps back.

* * *

By the end of the week, Serena is struggling to summon the necessary motivation to finish her paperwork. It's about half past eight on Friday evening and Serena is seriously tempted by the option of leaving it all until her next shift and heading home to spend the rest of the evening in the bath or in bed with a large glass of wine.

From its hectic start on Monday, Serena's week has for the most part improved, she had caught up on her emails by the end of the shift and had been working her way through an increased volume of clinical matters paperwork; the volume had lessened recently but since the start of the week, Hanssen has been delegating it to her at the same volume as when she started this new role. Serena had had back-to-back night shifts in the middle of the week and felt a stab of satisfaction in flooding Hanssen's email with the completed work but the feeling was fleeting.

Since his abrupt departure from the Keller office on Monday, Serena has been unable to speak to Hanssen beyond the absolute minimum without the Swede ignoring or dismissing her. The tension was noticeable enough for Terrance Cunningham to comment when he sprang a surprise visit the previous day. Under the pretence of a quick hospital tour, a reluctant Serena was unable to evade the questions of the Chairman of the Board.

"So?"

"So." Serena had parroted back in a tired voice.

"I know Henrik isn't the easiest man to work with but your emails gave the impression of a working relationship better than what I just saw." Serena remains staring ahead of her, avoiding the gaze of the chairman to her right.

"It is," she sighs. "Usually. This is a recent development and I have no idea who has pissed in his smorgasbord." Stepping out of the lift and onto AAU, Serena lowers her voice and adds, "he has until Monday to snap out of it." Serena made no further reference to the Director of Surgery, for once not tempted to manipulate the situation to her advantage, unable to shake the impression that she is to blame.

Realising that she has spent the last fifteen minutes staring into space, Serena switches off her laptop and gathers her things together. "He's got until Monday." She repeats to herself as she leaves the office.

* * *

**AN2: There had to be an obligatory period of distant Swede after the previous chapter but don't fear, Serena gets fed up and calls him on it in the next chapter. Thereafter normal service will be resumed, anticipate it being posted before the end of the weekend.**

**Feel free to drop me a line, let me know what you liked, what you didn't like. :-)**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Thank you all for your lovely reviews for the previous chapter; I seem to be having a bit of an issue, I'm not being sent any alerts when you review or follow etc. If anyone has any hints to resolve this, please let me know; I've checked settings etc and nothing has changed :-(**

**I'm picking them up as I go but bear with me, it may take slightly longer than usual for me to get round to them. Anyone else having this problem or am I just the (un)lucky one?**

**Anyway, I had great fun writing this chapter, I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have.**

**Usual disclaimers apply, I'm only playing in the Holby sandbox. **

**Onwards!**

* * *

Chapter 15.

Monday morning, Serena steps into lift from Keller up to the fifth floor and heads along the familiar corridor to the familiar board room. She doesn't even glance at the door of the office of the CEO and Director of Surgery; enough time has now passed that Serena doesn't feel the pang that she used to in the immediate aftermath of having been so rudely and suddenly demoted.

In the last fortnight, Hanssen has distanced himself from her, their only regular communication via email as they trade work back and forth. She hadn't seen Hanssen for four days after her birthday and she'd subconsciously spent them on cloud nine, replaying the memory of their kiss, only to be brought back down to earth with a bump by Hanssen's cool actions when she did see him next.

To say she is frustrated is an understatement, she _had_ thought that by kissing Hanssen in the car park, she'd made her feelings clear enough or at least gotten some way towards explaining how she feels. Either her demonstration wasn't clear enough for the master manipulator which she considers unlikely or she had completely misread their interrupted encounter on the stairwell which Serena also considers unlikely.

Approaching the board room door, Serena contemplates how Hanssen had ignored and rebuffed any attempt by Serena to speak to him. Unless she makes the first move, Serena can well believe that Hanssen's display of petulant sulking will continue indefinitely.

Not willing to allow that scenario to occur, Serena has elected to wait until she knows they will be in front of others and Hanssen will be unable to continue to dismiss her without drawing attention to himself. Serena has little to lose if attention is drawn to Hanssen's behaviour, her relationship with the chairman is still better than Hanssen's and with a bit of flirting, she could probably have Cunningham eating out of her hand. If word reaches the board's ears of the CEO blocking the Executive Director of Surgery without cause, they both know that Hanssen would find himself on thin ice rather quickly.

Slipping into the room, Serena takes her usual seat at the far side of the table next to Michael Spence. She strikes up a light conversation with Michael as they wait for the final consultants to arrive for the late morning meeting. Sparing a quick glance towards Hanssen, sat a couple of chairs down to her right, she raises an eyebrow as she realises the Swede's attention is focused on her.

Hanssen averts his gaze and the meeting starts a few minutes later.

* * *

"Thank you for your input this morning, I shalln't take up any more of your time." Hanssen brings the meeting to a close and Serena, sensing her opportunity, speaks up.

"Mr. Hanssen." Serena gets his attention and the attention of the others in the room when she calls his name.

"Ms. Campbell." Hanssen parrots back in the same tone of voice.

"May I have a word?"

"What is it about?" Hanssen asks without looking at her as he gathers up his files and stands.

Serena is more than a little tempted to say, 'so we can clear up why you're avoiding me after we kissed' but she isn't in the mood to perform CPR should they need to resuscitate Elliot. After a heartbeat, she settles for, "it's a personal matter."

"I am not an agony aunt, nor am I inclined to become one, Ms. Campbell." Hanssen states, sounding utterly indifferent. "If it's a personal matter, speak to HR." And heads out of the door. Serena narrows her gaze at the departing Swede, aware of the expressions on the faces of her colleagues even as she avoids meeting their slightly incredulous looks.

Movement at the edge of her peripheral vision draws Serena's attention and she glances over automatically to find Professor Hope looking at her oddly but he leaves without a word, listening to Jac Naylor's barely-suppressed enthusiasm for Hanssen's put-down and Serena can't bring herself to care which junior Doctor is going to be on the receiving end of Jac's next set of insults.

The Paediatrics and Oncology consultants also leave the room silently, unsure what to make of the scene between the Director of Surgery and the Executive Director of Surgery. Serena remains seated and becomes aware that neither Michael or Ric have left and both are obviously waiting for her. Ric breaks the silence, asking if either of them can help.

Serena forces a bitter laugh. "No Ric, apparently only HR can."

The three of them head along the corridor, Serena's frustration in danger of spilling over and she doesn't spot the looks that her two colleagues exchange. When they reach the lifts, Ric heads off to the side to take the stairs back to Keller to Serena's confusion but she can't be bothered to question Ric's sudden desire for some exercise.

The two remaining consultants wait for the lift and they step in together, Michael half a step behind Serena. He pushes the floor for AAU and gently wraps his wrist around Serena's, preventing her from selecting the fourth floor so she can return to Keller. His grip is firm but gentle and Serena imagines it is so she doesn't wrench her wrist out of his warm hand and punch his jaw for his actions.

"What is it, Michael?" Serena asks, her right wrist still in his grasp as she faces the wall of the lift, her back to the American. "And you can let go of me now, I'm not going to wallop you."

He huffs in amusement and Serena feels his breath brush against her neck as he releases his hold on her. She turns to face him, taking an extra step back so the distance between them is professional once more.

"I've got a patient I want you to take a look at their scans."

"Michael, I'm busy." Serena groans. "I've got the Swede's paperwork to do as well as my own and electives and-"

"Please."

"What's the matter, can't remember which way round the X-Ray goes?" Serena watches him roll his eyes at her half-hearted jibe.

"Say what you have to, I would appreciate your input." Serena exhales, shoulders slumped as she concedes to his request. "I owe you, Serena."

They continue on down to AAU in a more comfortable silence than before and Serena is thankful that Michael doesn't mention the little scene with Hanssen.

Serena heads into her old office, looking around for any changes since she was last here while Michael finds an iPad with the results he's after. Serena takes one look at the scan.

"Kidney stones, Michael; you're wasting my time." She gets up out of his chair and finds Michael standing by the door, not letting Serena leave and she finds she is in no mood for Michael's games and attempts at helping her. "Michael."

"What's up Rena?" He asks firmly and Serena stares at the ceiling, unable to believe she fell for something so painfully obvious.

"Don't call me that." Serena replies automatically

"What's going on with you and Hanssen?" His American accent becomes more pronounced as he asks the question.

"Nothing. It's business as usual." She drawls sarcastically.

"I'm not stupid." He continues before Serena can respond with the obvious retort. "Why is he mad at you?"

"I don't know." Serena responds stubbornly.

"Why are you mad at him?"

"I'm not..." Michael just grins at her when she doesn't complete the sentence. "Alright, I am angry with him, spitting feathers angry."

"Well, why don't you go and tell him that, then?" The American's advice seems like the most logical step in the world and suddenly, Serena is spoiling for a fight, she's fed up with Hanssen's actions and fed up with Hanssen and determined to do something about it. This time Michael gets out of her way as she heads towards the office door and strides off the ward, heading back up to the fifth floor she has just left ready to confront Holby's most annoying Swede.

* * *

Serena takes a deep breath to calm herself and regain her focus before she opens the door and steps into the office in one movement. She hadn't been aware of the journey as she returned to the fifth floor, moving on autopilot, fuelled by her anger and frustration. Snapping the door shut behind her, she can see that her unannounced presence has surprised Hanssen but he recovers swiftly.

"Ah, Ms. Campbell, I'm afraid I have a meeting." Hanssen stands, picking up a black, leather organiser with what looks like his name embossed across the front from one side of his desk. Serena promptly sits down in the spare chair in front of his desk.

"Not a problem, Mr. Hanssen," she smiles dangerously at him, "I'll just wait here until you're done." For several heartbeats there is no expression on Hanssen's face except for slightly pursed lips until he sits down back in his chair, his bluff called and the excuse found wanting.

"What is it you want, Ms. Campbell?"

Serena counts to five before she answers his question. "_I_ want an explanation for why _you've_ ignored me at every turn, why you've been so-"

"And if I don't comply will you attack me again?" His question stops her in her tracks. Realisation dawns, the sensation like a kick to the stomach and Serena whispers, her voice hardening by the end of the question.

"Is it truly such an abhorrent thought to have kissed me?" She swallows, her voice changing again from hard and angry but as the words tumble out of her, her voice drops to barely more than a whisper. "I think I understand your behaviour now and rest assured, nothing like that will happen-"

"Ms. Campbell," Hanssen who had been chewing on the inside of his lip for most of Serena's outburst exhales and then speaks up. "Forgive me, I misspoke." Serena, unaccustomed to anything as obvious as an apology from the Swede was silent for a moment, waiting to see if he would carry on speaking.

"Is that all?" Serena asks, annoyed when nothing else is forthcoming.

"I'm not certain what else you require?"

"An explanation perhaps?" Hanssen merely sits back and raises an eyebrow at her. "For why you've been such an arse."

"In what way has my behaviour been unacceptable?" Serena grimaces, there's nothing that she can really pick him up on, he's been cold but professional and they both know it.

"You've been so cold." She offers, hating herself for the pitiful way it sounds as she does so.

"Ah yes, a tragic crime and quite unreasonable." The Swede's sarcasm is flowing at full-strength and Serena tells herself not to let him deflect and distract her.

"Has the standard of my work become unacceptable?" She asks and Hanssen warily answers, unsure at the change in subject.

"No, Ms. Campbell."

"Do you have any cause for concern regarding my ability to do my role as the Executive Director of Surgery?" Once more Hanssen answers in the negative. "So it would be a reasonable deduction that the change in your behaviour is not borne of professional reasons?" It's a hollow victory when she spots the moment Hanssen realises where she is going with her line of questioning.

"I wouldn't say anything at all on the matter."

"I know!" Serena snaps. "That's half of the problem, you _won't say anything_. I have no idea what goes on in that head of yours and I have no idea what to say to get you to say anything."

"Fine." Hanssen states and if Serena didn't know better, she'd say that Hanssen was bored – he's a much better actor than she has previously given him credit for. "I must confess to some surprise at your inability to reach a simple answer, perhaps I have over-estimated your ability at deductive reasoning."

Serena counts to ten to stop herself from stabbing the man with one of his own pedantically organised and neatly sharpened pencils.

"Is this about the kiss?" He remains silent, the tension radiating off him. Serena wants to hold her head in her hands. "I don't understand you, it was only a kiss. Yet you're mortally offended-"

Hanssen scoffs. "Hardly." Serena looks at him in askance. "You are not the first woman I've ever kissed, even if you are the first colleague."

He adds the last bit absent-mindedly and Serena dimly notes that the latter group would include Sahira Shah, the thought providing a momentary cheer, that she succeeded where the younger woman failed. However, she doesn't know what to say and remains silent, not particularly wanting to think about any 'other women'.

Hanssen sighs after twenty seconds of silence. "I would have thought it rather obvious."

"You would have thought _what_ is obvious?" Serena responds immediately, exasperated. "Because it isn't to me, I don't understand."

"You'd been drinking, Ms. Campbell." Hanssen answers in a flat tone.

"But-"

"I could taste it." Hanssen interrupts.

"I wasn't about to deny it." Serena mutters just loud enough for him to hear and she watches Hanssen swallow, almost missing his next words.

"I would have thought it rather obvious, Ms. Campbell. You'd been drinking, so why else would you decide to kiss me?" It takes a stunned Serena a moment or two to process Hanssen's words. She takes a deep breath but the first sound out of her mouth is an inarticulate expression of disbelief.

"Would you close the door quietly on your way out, please." Hanssen has already begun typing on his laptop, effectively dismissing her. Serena is close to admitting defeat – the man is still a mystery and she is no closer to working him out.

"No." It's only a whisper but it's loud enough for Hanssen to hear and to frown at his screen as he stops typing. He still doesn't look up however and Serena repeats her comment with more conviction. "No."

She watches Hanssen purse his lips slightly before he turns his head and looks up at her. "Stand up." She instructs him but although the Swede turns his chair, he doesn't stand. "Fine, on second thoughts it's probably easier if you're sitting down."

"Ms. Campbell-" Hanssen looks wary as Serena approaches his chair, moving around to his side of the desk.

"I'll have you know, just for the record that I'd only had two glasses of wine at that point, I was still perfectly rational." Hanssen raises an eyebrow. "Oh, don't look at me like that; I've built up quite the tolerance to Shiraz over the past few months and it's bloody well all your fault."

"I fail to see-"

"One last thing," Serena still doesn't let him continue, carefully enunciating each word that follows. "I am absolutely, completely, utterly stone cold sober now and I'm doing this because I. Want. To."

Before he can react, Serena pins Hanssen's arms to his chair and presses her lips to his, relatively chastely and she pulls away as she feels him start to respond. Pulling back, Serena looks at him, smirking as she realises that she hadn't misread their interrupted stairwell encounter after all and she watches him swallow, almost nervously.

"Ms.-"

"For God's sake Henrik, just shut up and kiss me."

* * *

**AN2: Ta-da! Drop me a line, let me know what you think. **

**There is mixed news for Serena next time. **


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Yikes! It's been a while! I really didn't mean to have such a long gap between updating chapters, especially considering where the previous chapter ended. A big thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, favourited and anything else – I'm humbled by your continued interest. You guys are the best :)**

**What I originally had planned for this chapter has been relegated to an as-yet unidentified future chapter. Re-reading part of an earlier chapter, it's been kind of clear that an explanation for Hanssen's motivations in this little tale is notable by its absence so I'm seeking to begin to address that with this chapter. But only a little bit, we've got to keep the enigmatic Hanssen keeping some cards close to his chest.**

**Finding myself suddenly single should have meant that I'd have more time to write but the opposite seems to have happened; I've been unable to actually put anything half-decent on the page. I have lost track of how many edits this chapter has had as I've scribbled bits out, re-instated bits and generally headed further into confusion. At various points I'd created quite a lot of pretty good dialogue but it didn't flow from one to the next so I've scrapped loads. **

**I've also started a new job and working the weirdest hours including (most annoyingly), Tuesday nights so I haven't seen any Holby for about six weeks. I will aim to catch up on YouTube some time this week so don't tell me what's happened!**

**Anyway, sob story over. Onwards!**

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Chapter 16.

"_For God's sake Henrik, just shut up and kiss me."_

He'd not obliged.

Serena had leaned forward, ignoring the internal voice which is chastising her for the pathetically eager way she is acting – she is a forty-something consultant general surgeon and mother to Holby's most frustrating teenager and not some nervous teenager about to receive her first kiss. She had only moved about eight inches towards him when Serena realises that Hanssen hasn't moved and she pauses, her eyes darting over his wary, impassive expression and she pulls back.

Serena allows a few moments to elapse in the hope that Hanssen would provide an explanation for his continued reluctance. Serena sighs imperceptibly, she is at a loss as to why she ever imagined that this kind of interaction with Hanssen could ever be straightforward.

"What's the matter?"

Hanssen takes off his glasses with his right hand, gently laying them in easy reach on his desk as he pinches the bridge of his nose with his left hand. Serena isn't sure she's ever seen Hanssen without his glasses on, if she has, she hadn't been paying attention and he looks different, younger and simultaneously older and more tired.

He still hasn't spoken and although Serena is tempted to repeat her question, she suspects it would be far more likely to make Hanssen clam up and dismiss her than attempt to verbalise the myriad thoughts that are undoubtedly racing around his mind. Serena remains perched against his desk, his left leg just brushing against hers and as she focuses on the warmth of the physical contact she hopes that her patience will pay off.

"You have enough on your plate at the moment," Hanssen comments and Serena immediately thinks of her mother, "without any unnecessary distractions." Serena looks at him, wanting him to look up so she can see his eyes but he is steadfastly ignoring her gaze, now cleaning his glasses with the end of his tie. She can't work out if he is attempting to be noble or if there is some other reason why he will not kiss her.

"There isn't a Mrs. Hanssen I don't know about, is there?" Serena asks lightly, not realising that she's holding her breath, the idea hadn't occurred to her before and right now as she holds her breath, waiting for his answer, it seems more than plausible.

He shoots her an unamused look in response; Serena had always assumed that the Swede was single but she finds it a relief to have her suspicions confirmed, especially after kissing him on two separate occasions. She is all too aware of the pain that the involvement of another party can cause to a relationship and she wouldn't do that to someone else, no matter how she felt about the supercilious Swede. In fact, if Hanssen had been married, it would almost certainly have been the straw which broke the back of her attraction to him.

"There is no Mrs. Hanssen," he tells her and Serena can't quite place his tone of voice. "Besides, anything other than a professional relationship between colleagues becomes complicated and unlikely to end well, to the detriment of the hospital."

Part of her is annoyed that Hanssen is already talking about the end of a possible relationship before it's even begun and she suppresses the business-side of her mind which concedes he may have a point; she married a colleague and the fall-out from the divorce was horrendous. This time, she is more senior and the repercussions for the hospital should the Director of Surgery and Executive Director of Surgery split up don't particularly bear thinking about. She certainly isn't looking to marry Hanssen but she wants more than their usual fractious and tense working relationship and she is 99% certain that he does as well, despite the lack of verbal confirmation or expression on his part.

"Skipping over the minor detail that you only thought I would kiss you with enough alcohol in my system to render me anyone's," she notes that Hanssen does have the grace to look a little sheepish at her dry and still slightly annoyed comment and Serena presses on. "I would have thought it obvious what I want or I wouldn't have kissed you and I wouldn't be here now."

"Is that the only reason?" He asks quietly as he replaces his glasses, pushing them back up his nose with a finger when they slip and the casual action nearly distracts Serena from what he is asking.

"Do you really think that I have an ulterior motive for kissing you?" Serena asks, not entirely certain that she wants his answer. She's aware of the career-orientated front she displays but that's all it is, a front; while she's at work, she's at work, when she is at home, she doesn't want to talk about work, no different to anyone else.

"That wasn't what I said." Hanssen responds in a calm voice.

"But you won't answer the question." Serena remarks, noting Hanssen's lack of a denial and she begins to feel like she's made a fool out of herself and silently begins to berate herself for charging up here.

"I have had no guarantees as to your motivations, Ms. Campbell and until a few minutes ago, I believed that-"

"-that it was all an alcohol-fuelled indiscretion." Serena finishes, wanting to simultaneously shake him and kiss him. She does neither, instead, Serena observes Hanssen, wondering why she imagined that anything involving him would be easy. She takes a deep breath before continuing in a voice that is a lot calmer than she feels, "but now we've cleared up that it wasn't; what is it you want?"

"I find myself... conflicted." Serena waits silently for Hanssen to continue; this is probably the most personal sentence she has ever heard from the man and it's only four words long.

Their conversation pauses as they hear heavy footsteps along the corridor outside the office and they sit in silence for a few moments as they wait for the footsteps to fade. Their words are unlikely to be heard by anyone in the corridor but their conversation is private and it's no-one's business but theirs.

"Why?" When Serena thinks that the silence has dragged on for long enough she gently prompts the Swede to continue. After nearly another minute of silence, Hanssen eventually speaks.

"You provoke-" Serena raises her eyebrows at the unexpected comment.

"Excuse me?" Only after she's spoken does she realise that her tone of voice is one she uses with Eleanor when she gets on Serena's nerves. Oddly enough, Hanssen seems to respond to it and Serena files the information away for future reference.

"Whilst it is usually frustration, Ms. Campbell, your actions rarely fail to garner a reaction from me. You are insubordinate, mendacious-"

"Gee thanks," Serena cuts off Hanssen's list of Serena's perceived character flaws; she is well aware of who she is – she does not require a reminder from the Swede. "Don't hold anything back, tell me how you really feel, why don't you." Her dry response is intended to mask her hurt at Hanssen's assessment of her and to stop his negative list from continuing; something that Hanssen seems to realise and he scratches his neck briefly, just above his shirt collar with his index finger.

"I am all too aware of just how ambitious you are, Ms. Campbell and that as a result I should, at the very least for my own sake, be attempting to increase the distance between us and not reduce it."

Serena blinks a couple of times as she absorbs Hanssen's words and translates them in her mind from Hanssen's version of the English language into something that she can understand and she still can't quite decide if what he just said was a good thing or a bad thing. "I'm a tad confused about what you're actually trying to say."

Hanssen moves without warning, the sudden movement making Serena flinch but Hanssen doesn't seem to notice and pushes his chair backwards and stands, heading over towards the windows in the office which overlook the hospital. Serena watches him, willing her heart rate to return to normal, she has never met anyone who can stand so _still_; she pushes herself up off the edge of the desk and wobbles slightly – she'd been perched on the edge a little too long and follows him on shaky legs as the feeling returns.

Stood a step behind him, Serena reaches out a hand and is hit by the memory of when he had been attacked; it feels like a lifetime ago. Shaking her head to clear the memory, she lets her hand rest on his suit jacket. This time he doesn't flinch when she places a hand on his shoulder blade.

"I'm not good at this." Hanssen confesses. Normally an admission of failure by the perfectionist Swede would garner an instant sarcastic response at the expense of Hanssen's uncertainty but not today.

"How many times have you been divorced?" Serena asks, it isn't a topic she wants to bring up but she needs to make a point and Hanssen turns to face her and Serena lets her hand fall to her side.

"None, I-"

"Quite." Serena cuts him off. "So you're doing better than me on that score." It's unusual for her to admit her failings to anyone else, let alone to Hanssen but she mentally concedes that this is hardly a usual conversation.

"Look, there are no targets or deadlines," she tells him, seeing that Hanssen is still far from convinced. "There is an attraction between us," Serena winces at the cliché but carries on, hoping Hanssen won't notice, "and that is all that matters, there aren't any obstacles except our own insecurities so we go at a pace that's comfortable for us both."

"I'm not good at this," he repeats himself, shaking his head and annoyed, Serena wonders if Hanssen has listened to a single word she has said just now. "You would be far better off with someone-"

"I don't want someone else or some pseudo-Disney version of happiness." Serena comments in a bit of a rush, earning an amusing look on Hanssen's face, a mixture of trepidation and nausea. She decides not to mention it. "I tried that once, it didn't do so well."

"Your husband?" Hanssen ventures a guess, face expressionless and Serena doesn't know what he's thinking.

"Ex-husband," Serena corrects automatically and then realises what Hanssen has said and laughs out loud. "And good God, no." The idea is so ridiculous that she can't help but laugh. "I'll tell you another time," she informs him, preferably when they've both had a bit to drink and he won't remember.

Serena steps forward and slips her arms around Hanssen's thin torso, pleased when he returns the action, wrapping his arms lightly around her shoulders. Feeling more confident, Serena pulls her head back just enough to meet his gaze and then presses her lips to Hanssen's, testing his response, it's a relatively chaste kiss but he returns it, his lips moving gently against hers. After a few moments, Serena pulls away and regards Hanssen; he isn't grinning like a loon, not that she would expect him to be but his expression and posture is certainly a little more relaxed and she flushes slightly as she realises Hanssen is returning her scrutiny, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

"I'm rather hoping, that..." Serena trails off, not quite sure how to finish her sentence, however, Hanssen seems to understand what she is trying to ask and answers for her.

"I am not adverse to the idea." Serena huffs, frustration mixed with a hint of amusement, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at the man's comment.

"Way to make a girl feel special," Serena mutters, just loud enough for Hanssen to hear and he shoots her a look of such honest confusion that Serena takes pity on him and explains, "sorry but that was hardly the most enthusiastic or inspiring answer I've ever heard."

Hanssen opens his mouth and then closes it again and Serena watches at the tips of his ears turn pink. "I apologise – I didn't mean it like that."

"So what did you mean?" Serena presses, sensing an opportunity to make the Swede talk – she's had more apologies from him in this interaction than she's had in her whole year in Holby put together – the man is obviously off-balance.

"You confuse me, Ms. Campbell." He confesses quietly and Serena has already opened her mouth to deny the charge until her brain catches up and she concedes that some of her actions aren't straightforward or obvious to herself and she closes her mouth without having said a word. Serena tilts her head slightly to one side and raises her eyebrows to encourage Hanssen to continue talking.

"This is far from my area of expertise." Serena is almost relieved that Hanssen is nervous about this; it's been a long time since she has needed to spare more than a passing thought to the start of a new relationship; she and her now ex-husband found themselves in bed and then at the registry office about a year later and she never really developed any skills beyond flirting. "I will make mistakes, there will be omissions-"

"It sounds suspiciously like you're still trying to talk me out of... this." Serena gestures to between them, not quite sure how to define whatever they are. "That's a futile effort, once I've made up my mind, I'm somewhat determined, you know." Her quip provokes a huff of amusement from Hanssen at the deliberate understatement; they both know how stubborn Serena can be.

"I probably should talk you out of this," he admits. "However, I do not wish to. Yet, if at some future date you complain at some perceived slight or my general insensitivity, I will have no qualms in telling you-"

"-I told you so?" Serena finishes for him, mostly amused that she remembers contract negotiations with less disclaimers than this discussion.

"Quite so." He agrees with a small nod and a smirk.

"Then it is only fair to tell you now that if I misinterpret an action as a slight or take offence at your insensitivity then I will probably react quite loudly." Serena seems to reach the conclusion at the same time as Hanssen; any personal argument they had was liable to be spectacular. "On second thoughts, you had better be the one to sulk; I'll do the shouting." Hanssen frowns immediately in response to Serena's statement.

"I do not sulk." Serena is unable to point out that sulking is pretty much all he has done for the past fortnight because of a sharp knock at the office door.

"One moment." Hanssen calls out to his visitor, his gaze not leaving Serena and she is struck once more by the intensity of his stare when he is concentrating or focussed on something; she tries not to blush as unbidden thoughts cross her mind.

"Well," she says weakly, gathering herself, "I suppose that's my cue to exit stage right." She is reluctant to leave; a far cry from her mood when she entered the office all of twenty minutes ago and this time Serena does steal a kiss from Hanssen.

She manages to make it to the office door without turning around to face the Swede and when she opens the door, she sees a bored-looking Jac Naylor stood in the corridor. Feeling mischievous, Serena winks at Jac, careful not to let Hanssen see and she occupies the doorway so that he is still unaware of his visitor's identity as he sits himself down, back behind his desk.

"Oh, Mr. Cunningham. How lovely to see you." Serena drawls and Jac is quick to catch on to Serena's tactic, a rare display of amusement on the red-headed consultant's face as both women try and imagine the likely feeling of dread that Hanssen is experiencing. "No, not at all. In fact, I do believe that Mr. Hanssen has a free schedule for the rest of the afternoon. Come on in." She steps aside to let Jac into the fifth floor office and turns back to the desk, more specifically, the figure behind it.

Serena grins at the brief flicker of relief on Hanssen's face when he realises that his visitor isn't the chairman of the hospital board; his expression quickly morphs into disapproval, no doubt at Serena's teasing and she grins, before taking her leave and heading out into the corridor and back to Keller.

Deep in thought as the lift deposits her on the fourth floor ward, Serena contemplates the difference that half an hour can make. They have by no means sorted things out between them but it's a step in the right direction and as far as they can go today; she doesn't particularly care about the smile that is no doubt still lingering on her face as she crosses the ward to the office, for the first time in a while, things are looking up for her.

* * *

**AN: I hope it was worth the wait. I'd appreciate it if you dropped me a little line to let me know either way.**


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: No update for ages and then three come along in a relatively short space of time; it's rather like waiting for a bus. The third update will be up soon and you'll see why at the end of this chapter :-)**

**This is only a short little one but otherwise the next chapter was going to be a monster and so I've split it up into somewhat more manageable bits.**

**A big thank you to the reviews from last time, it's a big relief to see how positively that chapter was received, you wouldn't believe how nervous I was about posting it. Daft 'eh?**

**Usual disclaimers apply.**

**I will aim to update both 'Betrayal' and 'The Next Step' within the week, thank you to those of you who have sent me gentle reminders – I haven't forgotten :)**

**Onwards!**

* * *

Chapter 17.

Mid-morning and Serena found herself sat at her desk in the Keller Consultants' office, attempting to chase down someone from Radiology and half-heartedly trying to catch up on the ever-increasing number of emails she is sent. Mr. Malick had, perhaps not unexpectedly, called in sick this morning, having gone home early yesterday afternoon with some kind of bug. As a result, Serena and Ric have added the registrar's patients to their own lists until he hopefully returns to work tomorrow.

Serena had sent one of her newly adopted patients for an X-Ray earlier this morning and she was still waiting for the results, rather impatiently. Normally she would palm the duty of tracking down the errant results off onto a junior Doctor but Serena is far from convinced that the Keller F1, Digby, is assertive enough to get the results this side of Halloween and she isn't in the mood to hang around until someone in Radiology decides to actually do some work.

In what Eleanor calls Serena's 'Hurricane Mode', Serena has just replaced the phone into the cradle on her desk having promised a personal visit to the department if the results aren't in her email inbox within the next five minutes when the door opens and Ric ambles into their shared office. Serena can't help but wonder if she was overheard and not wanting to be caught in the crossfire, Ric had elected to wait outside on the ward until she was done intimidating the hapless person at the other end of the phone lest she turn her glare and sharp tongue towards him. She smirks to herself at the idea but her theory is blown apart when Ric doesn't shut the door behind him and the familiar, tall figure of the Director of Surgery follows him into the office.

Hanssen.

Serena blinks but her gaze stays on the Swede's always immaculately dressed body and she has long given up trying to suppress the almost butterfly-like sensation that accompanies a sighting of the tall man. It's the first time that she has seen the Director of Surgery since leaving his office last week after confronting him – the result of Michael Spence's prodding. In the few days since then, he has been off site, away at a conference in London (Serena would never admit to anyone that she'd checked it wasn't in Nottingham), leaving her in charge of the hospital.

It's the first time since the start of the year that she has been in charge of the hospital for longer than a day or two at a time and combined with her regular list and demands on her time, she'd rather forgotten how exhausting it all is. For the last few nights, she had gone to bed earlier than she normally would with the exception of last night, when she had fallen asleep on the sofa watching the news. Serena had woken suddenly around 2am with a slightly stiff neck from the awkward angle and half-suffocated under a blanket that Eleanor had presumably thrown over her at some point and in a somewhat uncoordinated manner, Serena had dragged herself upstairs to her room, too tired to bother getting changed out of her clothes and promptly passed out, fully dressed on top of her bed.

Although she hasn't seen him, Hanssen hasn't been far from Serena's thoughts in his absence; she has found herself re-examining their previous interaction in his office for any clues she may have missed. The ping of an email landing in her inbox brings her attention back into the room and she is glad to see that Radiology have finally gotten into gear.

"Mr. Hanssen," she drawls, finding her voice, her gaze still on him as he moves further into the office. "To what do we owe the pleasure?" She spares a brief glance at the ring binder folder in his hand before returning her attention to his face, hoping that her first guess is wrong.

"Ah, Ms. Campbell." He replies in kind, he extends the folder towards her which Serena almost warily accepts, avoiding the temptation of deliberately allowing their fingers to brush. "I have a presentation next week for the Strategic Health Authority – I was wondering if you would be so kind as to cast your eye over it." Serena notes that it is a statement rather than a question and mentally adds the task to her 'to do' list.

"Of course, Mr. Hanssen." Hanssen is still looking at her, his expression almost thoughtful. Serena isn't sure whether he is about to say something to her because at that moment, the ajar office door is pushed open and Chantelle Lane sticks her head in and cheerfully addresses the majority of the room's occupants.

"Mr. Griffin, Mrs. Ridler is here now and asking for you." Serena glances over to her colleague – she'd forgotten that he was in the room with them. "Oh and Mr. Hanssen; Professor Hope called from Darwin a second ago, he wants to see you as soon as you can." Serena watches Ric exit with Chantelle, leaving Hanssen stood facing her and she transfers her attention back to him.

"Ms. Campbell," Serena thinks that he looks like he is about to say something to her but changes his mind at the last moment and inclines his head at her before taking his leave, leaving Serena alone in the office once more.

Serena exhales forcefully as the door shuts behind him; if she's perfectly honest with herself, she was never going to expect Hanssen to drag her into the nearest store cupboard at the first opportunity but she didn't think it unreasonable to hope for some kind of recognition beyond a nod as he leaves after giving her more paperwork to do or at the very least call her 'Serena'.

Looking at the folder in front of her, Serena wonders if Hanssen is a good student because he apparently has quite a lot of learning to do, she's tempted to leave a provocative comment in the margins on one of the pages but as amusing as the thought it, she decides against it almost immediately. It would be just her luck that someone else would read the comment and then questions would be asked.

Darwin. Thinking back to Chantelle's interruption, Serena realises that the nurse had said that Hanssen was required on Darwin ward and Serena frowns, wondering if the summons is linked to what Ric had mentioned the other day. She still doesn't know what is going on on the sixth floor ward which is unusual, Serena usually has her ear to the ground but she hasn't heard of anything other than the brief warning from Ric not to interfere.

Remembering the email from Radiology, Serena double clicks on the email and looks at the results of the scan, satisfied by what she sees and she gets up to deal with the patient before returning and resigning herself to acting as little more than Hanssen's glorified spell check.

'Then again', Serena thinks suddenly with a smile, Hanssen will require her feedback on his presentation and that would be best done in his office later today, 'perhaps he isn't as daft as he appears'.

A little while later, Serena finds herself on the last section of Hanssen's presentation; she's just settled herself back down in her chair with a cup of tea. She is still alone in the office – Ric still hasn't returned from his long-term patient and Serena glanced over as she made her way across the ward from the staff room and had to make a conscious effort not to frown at the obvious waste of time that her colleague is indulging in as he laughs and jokes with the patient; if Ric is short of things to do, Serena has a hundred and one things he could do for her.

Flicking back to the previous page, Serena spends a moment regaining her train-of-thought and satisfied that she has the flow of the presentation again, she returns her attention to the final section. She gets to the end of the second or third sentence when a noise distracts her and it takes her half a second to realise that the sound is her mobile phone.

Huffing in frustration, Serena abandons the presentation and fishes around in her pocket for the device and spares only a brief glance at the screen, Serena recognises a hospital extension number and accepts the call.

"Serena Campbell." Serena's expression of poorly-concealed boredom vanishes almost instantly.

"Ah, Mrs. Campbell; I'm Dr. North – clinical lead on the Stroke Ward here at Holby..."

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**AN: Nothing like a good old fashioned cliff hanger :-) **

**Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you thought.**


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: Don't you just love a good old-fashioned cliff hanger :) **

**It isn't as bad as you've thought, however, to make up for that, this is a bit of a longer chapter. I've rewritten it twice and have taken most of the angst out of it; I hope Serena doesn't seem too out of character but she is definitely unsure of herself at the moment. **

**A big thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed. **

**In the next chapter or so we'll deal with Darwin and Tara Lo (I've got to kill her off some time, she's had a longer stay of execution (pardon the phrase) than she probably should have).**

**Usual disclaimers apply. **

* * *

Chapter 18.

"_Serena Campbell." Serena's expression of poorly-concealed boredom vanishes almost instantly._

"_Ah, Mrs. Campbell; I'm Dr. North – clinical lead on the Stroke Ward here at Holby..." _

Serena is still sat at her desk, having barely moved since ending the call from the stroke ward. Hanssen's presentation remains untouched in front of her; she isn't even trying to focus on the final section now. The rest of the presentation was fine, Serena is relatively sure that the final section will be of a similar standard. Her mobile phone is sat, discarded on top of the piles of paper and plastic staring up at her and Serena stares back at it, almost unseeing as her mind races.

Ric had been summoned to see a long-term patient that he'd struck up a friendship with about fifteen minutes before Serena received the call which has stopped her in her tracks and had yet to return; in a passing thought, she is glad that her colleague wasn't in the room. Serena frowns as she realises that Ric will almost certainly be able to tell that something has happened and to avoid that particular confrontation she stands, pocketing her mobile and pager, leaving the office and the ward, eager to get some fresh air.

Her heart had nearly stopped when the voice identified themselves as 'Dr. North – clinical lead on the stroke ward'. Serena had had a brief moment when several possibilities involving her mother, each worse than the previous took up residence in her mind and she bites the inside of her lip in an attempt to keep her composure long enough to find out what has happened.

"What's happened?"

The woman, oblivious to Serena's emotions had asked if Serena was free to talk about Mrs. McKinnie and Serena doesn't want stalling tactics and had said as much.

Dr. North had immediately allayed Serena's worries, apologising for the ambiguous greeting and explained that her mother is absolutely fine and the woman's recovery is progressing as well as can be hoped for and that the extra speech therapy Chantelle Lane is doing is making a noticeable difference.

Serena closes her eyes in relief whilst frowning at the reminder of the nurse's dedication to her mother; Serena has been too busy to visit as much as she would have liked and the nurse's regular visits, including several spontaneous ones serve to make Serena feel guilty.

Dr. North continues to talk and Serena makes herself listen to what the other consultant is saying. In the next fortnight or three weeks, they would be looking to discharge Mrs. McKinnie from the hospital and into the care of another facility.

"Another facility," Serena's mind processes the term and she doesn't like her answer. "You mean, a care home?"

"_I feel that it would be in Mrs. McKinnie's best interests-"_

"No."

"_It would be the best place, the staff are-"_

"I said no." Serena's second denial is as sharp as the first but the other colleague appears undaunted, apparently used to the emotional responses of family members and apparently unconcerned the this particular family member is the Executive Director of Surgery. Serena rubs the bridge of her nose with one hand as she holds the phone to her ear with the other. "She'd hate that and I won't allow it."

"_There is a lack of viable alternatives, Mrs. Campbell."_

"Of course there are other options to just dumping her."

"_The role that the hospital can provide in Mrs. McKinnie's treatment is ending. We will need to free the bed for other patients. I'm sure you of all people understand my position, Mrs. Campbell."_

The consultant rings off and Serena gets an appreciation of how Ric must feel during one of their arguments about discharging patients. She stares at her phone in disgust and tosses it onto the report she'd been reading, huffing as she runs a hand through her hair, wondering what on earth she is going to do, too distracted by the conversation to pick up on the incorrect form of address - she hasn't been Mrs. Campbell for several years.

Stepping into one of the lifts, Serena almost presses the button for the basement; she would be almost guaranteed to not have any company while she clears her head but something about the underground corridor disquiets her and so she elects to head outside. Turning right as she exits the main Wyvern entrance, Serena reaches a small garden, hidden from view from the main hospital building and just what she needs as she tries to regain her composure.

Sitting down on the bench, Serena balances her elbows on the edge of her knees, running her fingers through her hair distractedly and she closes her eyes, exhaling forcefully as she tries to work out what to do. It isn't until she hears a distinctive male voice a couple of feet away that she realises anyone is with her and Serena reluctantly opens one eye, ready to tell her visitor to bugger off.

"I thought it was you. What's up, Rena?"

"Go away, Michael." Serena tells the American, not in the mood to deal with him and his antics.

"Hardly, you look like you need a friend." He seems to ignore the glare Serena sends him and sits down next to her, stretching out to her annoyance. "Talk to me, for the novelty factor if nothing else. What's the matter?"

"I got a phone call this morning." Serena begins, finding herself needing to talk to someone and Michael suddenly seems like the best option; he isn't Ric, who is too involved in the whole situation to be objective and he isn't Hanssen who seems to be quite uneasy talking about her mother for some reason and she picks at the skin at the edge of her nails absent-mindedly. For once, Michael sits patiently next to her and waits for an explanation instead of provoking her into one with a flippant comment. "My Mum is going to be discharged soon." She eventually confesses, putting her hands into the pockets of her cardigan.

"That's great news."

"Is it?" Serena regrets her petulant tone as soon as the words are out of her mouth; it isn't quite what she means at all. Serena is thankful that Michael ignores the inflections and doesn't draw any attention to what she actually said.

"Of course it is." Serena doesn't give any outward acknowledgement of his point and Michael sighs. "So why the long face?"

"I haven't really got any options; they want to put her in a care home and I don't want that. She'd hate it."

"So, do something or do nothing about it." Michael says wisely, sounding more like Ric than he probably realised.

"I'm not doing nothing."

"Well then, looks like you're gonna be doing something about it," he announces, his American accent quite pronounced. "She can't go back to her house alone, can she. So if you don't want her in a care home the only other real option is..."

"I know but I don't know if..." She trails off. She knows that Adrienne wouldn't just be dumped on her, she has Eleanor to help and her daughter has a better relationship with her grandmother than she does with Serena so that won't be an issue. There'll be carers and visits; her mother will have someone available at every moment of the day and Eleanor has her friends with a hundred different methods of communication at any given moment.

"Ah," Michael seems to guess at part of what is bothering Serena, "you'll be just fine. You're not on your own, you know."

"It's not that," Serena responds automatically and then concedes, "well, maybe a bit." She hears him laugh quietly and he puts an arm around her shoulders.

"Anything that any of us can do, just ask." He squeezes, his half embrace comforting. "Me, Ric, Sacha. Even Hanssen isn't immune to your charm."

"If you say so."

Part of what bothers her about the potential solution of Adrienne coming to live with Serena and Eleanor is Hanssen. She's been so focused on the possibilities of her new relationship with the Swede that she's neglected her family more than she normally does. Adrienne's imminent discharge is proof of that and it's left her feeling more uncertain about where she stands with Hanssen than before.

As far as Serena is concerned, from his point of view, Hanssen is hardly likely to be interested in her once he realises that she is a forty-something divorcee with a teenage daughter and a mother in tow who needs a level of care that Serena is going to struggle to provide. It's going to be more work than it's worth for him.

Irrespective of how she feels about the enigmatic, frustrating man, a relationship now is not what's best for both of them. Serena is unlikely to be able to commit as much as she needs to for whatever is between them to work.

'It's not you, it's me', her conscience voice mocks her and Serena sighs into the gloom of the late spring afternoon. She honestly has no idea how Hanssen would take something like that and she doesn't know if she would be able to explain it properly to him.

The only other option is to avoid Hanssen until he gets the message, it's a stupid idea and not fair on him, but it's all she's got right now. The other equally sad fact is that he is all she has now; her constant strive for independence has cost her.

"I do. So what's the deal with the big H?" Serena pulls away from the American.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on Rena, I wasn't born yesterday." Serena frowns at him.

"Apparently I was." Serena is no closer to understanding what Michael is going on about. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Michael."

"You know, I might just have believed you if I hadn't seen you plant one on him in the car park on your birthday."

"What!" Serena croaks, the colour draining from her face. If Michael knew then Serena expects it to be all round the hospital in no time; that kind of gossip is too juicy not to share. Her first thoughts are of how Hanssen will react. "Michael..."

"Ric and I saw you. You'd been gone longer than ten minutes; I guess we found out why."

"Ric saw?" Serena ignores the rest of the sentence, really not in the mood for Michael's teasing.

"Yeah, hasn't he said anything?"

"Not a word." Serena isn't sure whether she should hurt Ric or be thankful for his discretion. 'Both', she decides.

"Ah, well I've not told anyone either. We legged it back to Albie's when we saw you two come up for air. You left not long after, we both assumed you were going to Hanssen's for a little bit of-"

"Stop." Michael waggles his eyebrows and grins but complies but can't resist adding.

"Your grin could have powered several small villages, you know."

"Michael, please." Serena frowns as something occurs to her. "Is that why you suggested I go and shout at him last week?"

"It might have had something to do with it. I take it things are all sorted between you now?" Serena doesn't answer, not quite sure what's going on at the moment. "So how long has this been going on?" Her silence gives Michael more opportunity to ask questions.

"It hadn't."

"But it is now?" Serena sighs.

"I don't know." She confesses.

"How can you not know?" She almost smiles at the incredulity in the American's tone. "I know it's been a little while for me but even I can still recognise when I'm in a relationship or not."

"Since the kiss that everyone saw-"

"Not quite everyone." Michael interjects and Serena ignores him.

"-he'd been a jerk. You saw what he was like." Serena recalls the way Hanssen had dismissed her at the end of the senior consultants meeting.

"Why?" Serena shrugs.

"Because he's Hanssen?" She offers, it's the truth, less a few details that she doesn't want to share with her friend.

"But?" Michael encourages her and Serena idly notes that he's worse than some of the nurses for the gossip.

"We sorted that difference out." She catches sight of Michael's expression. "_Not _like that. Get your mind out of the gutter." He apologises but Serena doesn't think that Michael sounds very sorry at all. "Anyway, we're just finding our footing and moving along slowly."

"For our sakes, I hope not too slowly, the tension between you two is like living in a powder keg and giving off sparks." Serena recognises those words and it takes a few seconds for her to work out where from.

"Bonnie Tyler, Michael, really?"

"Hey, I watched Eurovision." He says proudly with a truly disturbing leer and in that moment, Serena finds herself beyond grateful that her lack of a sex life over the past several years hasn't turned her into someone like Michael Spence and she toys with the idea of telling him so but reluctantly concedes that he'd take it as a compliment and then bring it up at awkward moments for the next few months.

"There's something seriously wrong with you." He laughs and changes the subject.

"So, back to the big cheese," Michael comments, suddenly serious again. "Just talk to him. I know English isn't his first language... or his second come to think of it-"

"What?"

"He speaks French, didn't you know?"

"No." She didn't know that and wonders when Michael found out that tidbit of information and makes a note to ask him later.

"You should get him to speak French to you." Serena jabs Michael in the ribs in response. "Hey. What was that for? Didn't you do French at school?" His protests of innocence are ignored by Serena, they both know very well what Michael meant and school had nothing to do with it.

"No, I did German."

There's a pause.

"Oh, that figures. Hey!" Serena jabs Michael again and he yelps.

"It's quite easy to go off people, you know." She tells him, not really meaning it. He might drive her mad and he regularly does but she knows his heart is in the right place and almost as if he knows what she is thinking, he laughs, stands and pulls Serena into a proper hug.

"Fine, fine. I can take a hint but make sure you talk to him. Tell him what's bothering you, he might just understand." He steps back out of the embrace and shoots her a serious, all-knowing look that for once he can pull off. "And remember what I said, if there's anything any of us can do..." Serena nods, thankful for the offer but not quite able to bring herself to accept it.

They walk back to the main entrance together and manage to dive into a lift by themselves, Michael presses the button for AAU and then presses the fifth floor instead of the fourth for Keller. Cutting off her protest before it can begin, Michael explains. "You need to talk to him, sooner rather than later."

"I didn't say I wouldn't."

"But you didn't say you would."

Once the doors shut behind Michael, Serena presses the fourth floor button for Keller, deciding that she might as well take Hanssen's presentation back to him if she's going to go and see him.

* * *

Serena lets herself into the large office which was once hers and holds the folder aloft so that Hanssen knows the reason for her visit. He's on the phone but offers her a seat and she launches into her feedback about his presentation almost as soon as he's hung up and if he can tell she's distracted, he says nothing. He regards her as she talks and she averts her gaze to the folder, pointing out bits unnecessarily; she can feel his steady gaze on her. He waits until there isn't anything else she can say before he asks her what's bothering her.

'Saved by the bell', she thinks, looking at the phone which Hanssen glares at, holding up a hand at her as he resigns himself to answer the ringing device.

"Wait a moment." She remains seated. "Henrik Hanssen."

Serena lets her gaze roam over him as he talks; tracing the lines on the blue and red striped tie he's wearing to the cut of his suit, back up past his collar to his face. His expression is troubled and Serena watches as the small frown becomes more pronounced and she waits as he ends the call. Replacing the phone in its cradle, he rubs the bridge of his nose with one hand, his glasses balanced precariously on his knuckles.

"Is it Darwin?" Serena asks once he's done and the slight narrowing of his eyes confirms her hunch. "Are you going to let me know what's going on?"

"What have you heard?" Hanssen responds and Serena fights the urge to sigh and his refusal to answer the question.

"Not a lot. I heard something happened with their F1." Right now, Serena can't remember their name but she can picture the doctor and her ever-present enthusiasm as well as Jac's somewhat reluctant acceptance of the junior doctor.

She waits while Hanssen locks the door to his office and walks with him to the lifts, his longer legs eating up the distance. "Well?" She enquires, if it's affecting the ward, as Executive Director of Surgery, Serena has a right to know.

"You will find out everything you need to know in due course." That isn't the answer that Serena wanted but Hanssen's tone is such that she knows she won't get anything further from him just now.

"Fine," she concedes softly. "But if you want to talk..." Glancing up the deserted corridor briefly, Serena closes the distance between them and squeezes his hand, figuring that he wouldn't appreciate being kissed, even if the corridor was empty. "You know where I am."

"That works both ways, Ms. Campbell. See you anon." He offers her a tired smile and heads towards the stairwell to climb the stairs to the sixth floor ward, leaving Serena the lift to travel down to the fourth floor and back to Keller.

* * *

**AN: Good old Michael for talking some sense into Serena. Lord only knows what she would have done otherwise.**

**Next time: Serena has to talk to Adrienne.**

**Until then. Feel free to drop me a little line, let me know what you thought :-)**


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: This story has changed beyond recognition from the original idea I had in my mind when I started it. Neither Hanssen or Serena have played nicely and have insisted on doing their own things for several chapters (I daren't argue with them). However, thank you for sticking with this and we'll get to some kind of actual relationship soon.**

**Almost like an interlude before building up to the events of the next chapter which is nearly written already so that won't be long 'till that's updated.**

**Have had a busy few days, did 8 days on the trot at work which is why updating has been a bit squiffy recently but I've got three whole days off this week so hopefully some kind of regular updating should occur. That said, the cricket starts this week...**

**Anyway, a big thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed, your input and thoughts are much appreciated and really do help.**

**Usual disclaimers apply.**

**Onwards!**

* * *

Chapter 19.

"Hi Mum," Serena greets a sleepy Adrienne, holding her mother's hand as she wakes. She'd spent nearly fifteen minutes waiting at the familiar bedside in the stroke ward to talk to her mum, not wanting to wake her sleeping parent.

Adrienne's face is much more relaxed in sleep, the recent additions, the lines of tension, stress and frustration haven't vanished but are much less pronounced than they have been and Serena takes the opportunity to watch her mother, cataloguing the changes from a year ago, to immediately after the stroke to the present day. Although her mother still looks small, she is a far cry from the frail figure which occupied a bed on Keller and then this bed.

Serena picks up a warm, pale and bony hand from its resting place on the duvet, holding it in her own and squeezing gently. The action wakes Adrienne and Serena greets her. After the usual questions about herself and Eleanor, Serena broaches the real reason for her visit.

"You know you're being discharged soon, Mum?" Adrienne nods slowly and Serena takes a deep breath. "Well, they want to discharge you to a care home but I thought you'd hate that and so I wondered if you wanted to stay with me. Eleanor's agreed, she'd love seeing you all the time and you'd have visits from nurses so you wouldn't just be left." Serena finishes in a bit of a rush, feeling once more like the child wanting to please her mother and as much as she tries to silently scoff at the notion, she finds that she can't quite discard it.

For some reason, she feels unable to meet her mother's eye and so instead chooses to look around the room until her hand is deliberately nudged and Serena reflexively looks at her mother, waiting for her answer.

A few minutes later, Serena sits back into her chair, smiling at Adrienne, who returns the gesture albeit it still with a slight lop-sided quality. Adrienne had agreed to Serena's plan, relieved that the option of some kind of care home option had been avoided, exactly as Serena had anticipated.

"We can sort most of the details later but I was thinking that if you have the spare room, it means you're between me and Eleanor if you need-" Serena's explanation is halted by a familiar and unwelcome beeping – her pager. She scowls as she stands, fishing the device out of her pocket and turning it over until she can see the screen.

"I've only been gone twenty minutes and someone is trying to die," she comments, trying to make light of the situation and mask her disappointment. "I've got to go back to Keller; I'll come by as soon as I'm done – I've got a gruesome murder mystery book you'll probably like." Serena presses a quick kiss to Adrienne's forehead and leaves the stroke ward, following the now-familiar route back to Keller, part of her is surprised that she hasn't worn a path into the hallway, considering how frequently she makes the journey.

As she continues on towards the general surgery ward, Serena's thoughts turn to Hanssen and she still hasn't told him about Adrienne's discharge; she doesn't know how he will respond to the development and she wants to avoid him becoming distant, well, she concedes, 'more distant than usual'. Serena knows that she would feel a little odd if the situation was reversed and it was his mother going to live with him, not that she can imagine Hanssen with parents.

Serena shakes her head as she steps off the lift and pushes her way through the double doors onto Keller – it's way too early to be thinking about 'meet the parents'.

Chantelle Lane's call gets Serena's attention and she heads over, pleased that their hapless F1 seems to be doing something useful rather than flapping for once. He gives her the information she needs without stuttering and she nods, making a decision.

"Straight into theatre please. Page the on-call anaesthetist; good work Dr. Digby." Serena turns to head back off the ward and get herself scrubbed in but decides to give the F1 the opportunity to watch and turns around, pausing as she does so, the offer on the tip of her tongue.

'Ah', Serena tries not to notice but she watches as Digby turns to Chantelle and smiles at her, the nurse smiles back but Serena has a feeling that the blonde nurse is unaware of the significance of the F1's look. Rolling her eyes at the pair, Serena doesn't hesitate to interrupt this time, "clock's ticking, you two. Digby get yourself scrubbed in – you can watch."

* * *

'It still gets dark too bloody early', Serena grumbles to herself as she shrugs her coat on, staring out of the office window. She'll be glad when summer actually makes an appearance, she is fed up of the perpetual cold weather although she knows that she'll be the first to moan about the heat when the temperature is over 25c.

Serena debates for a moment about whether to pack her laptop and eventually decides against it, leaving the device on her desk. Everything can wait until tomorrow. She shoulders her bag, making sure that her keys, book and phone are in before smirking at Ric's empty desk.

Ric had eventually returned from AAU and Serena had greeted him cheerfully as if nothing was amiss. It was clear from the look on Ric's face that her colleague knew that she knew about Ric and Michael witnessing her kiss Hanssen in the hospital car park. He was obviously expecting some kind of reaction from Serena and was wary, relieved and confused by her relaxed greeting. Until she decides quite how to confront him, Serena is content to keep him on his toes and as it was, Serena had smiled at Ric before heading along the stroke ward for the second time that day, enjoying his uneasy parting.

Adrienne is awake this time when Serena lets herself into the stroke ward and she is gently admonished by her mother for her habit of reading Adrienne's patient folder at the start of every visit; Serena waves away her words, knowing that Adrienne doesn't really mean it or Serena would have been left with no uncertainty about the matter but since the stroke, she refuses to take any chances with her mum's health.

Eleanor had stolen Serena's work phone a couple of nights before, determined to put some music on there to Serena's frustration and had insisted that she teach her mother how to work it. Although she wouldn't admit it, Serena is now glad, her phone is plugged into a pair of speakers.

Adrienne and Serena sit in a comfortable silence, the music playing off her phone gently in the background, a soothing if unusual soundtrack to the book that Serena is reading out loud. Her mother's taste in crime novels has always seemed such a contrast to the woman that Serena and others know but the bloodier and more violent, the better, it seems.

At the end of the first chapter, Serena pauses, glancing over to see if Adrienne is still awake and can't help but smile when she sees her mum sat there with an expression which clearly wants a good reason for Serena's pause in reading. She might be nearly fifty but Serena still reacts to that look and seeks to explain quickly.

"Just checking you were still awake, Mum." Adrienne huffs in mock annoyance, mumbling something that Serena can't understand but she gets the gist. Amused, Serena resumes reading. About a page and a half into the second chapter, the music pauses briefly to signal an incoming email before resuming and although Serena acknowledges the sound, she doesn't miss a beat and continues to read.

Glancing up at the end of the page, Serena notices Adrienne's eyes are drooping and she turns the page, continuing to read until the end of the chapter. Several minutes later, at the end of the second chapter and start of the third, Serena can see that her mother is asleep and so with a small smile, she folds the page over to mark her spot; she'll pick up the story again from that point when she next visits.

Gathering her belongings together, Serena pauses the music before remembering the email – at this time of day it's probably not urgent or she would have been rung or paged but Serena opens it anyway, she recognises the name of Darwin's F1 as the sender.

Serena blinks, the action shaking her out of the daze she's been in for however long and when she looks at her watch, she isn't particularly surprised to see that nearly five minutes has elapsed since she read the email. Hanssen's regular attendance on Darwin now makes sense as well as his reluctance to tell her about the reasons for his visits to the cardiothoracic ward.

As she stands out of the chair, Serena's first reaction is to go to Hanssen's fifth floor office and see if he is ok. She discards the notion immediately, almost certain that Hanssen wouldn't appreciate her enquiry or her sense of timing. If the situations had been reversed, she admits to herself that she probably wouldn't have told Hanssen about Dr. Lo's brain tumour and her visiting him now would probably only be viewed as an attempt to satisfy a morbid curiosity.

Hanssen's car isn't in its parking spot next to hers by the time that Serena makes it out of the hospital and into the dark night. As Serena unlocks the car and gets in, she can't help but feel more unsettled about things than she has for a while; the next fortnight or so will be crucial for so many things.

* * *

In the few days which followed Tara Lo's announcement, the general mood amongst the staff had fallen and although Darwin's staff were attempting to play it down and act as if it was business as usual; the correct approach in Serena's opinion – Tara Lo is not the only patient in this hospital and some of the staff would do well to remember that; the mood surrounding the building had turned sombre.

Professor Hope and Hanssen's pensive attitudes in the senior consultant's meeting served only to highlight the unfavourable odds that the young doctor faced she she prepared herself. When Serena had heard that the operation was being brought forward, she couldn't help but suspect that a fairytale recovery was slipping away.

Caught up in a conversation with Jac Naylor, it had taken Serena a moment or two to realise that Hanssen had asked her to remain behind and she steps to the side to allow the others to leave before returning back to the table and perching on the edge of the desk next to Hanssen as he tidies up.

"Sorry," she apologises, aware that tensions are starting to run high even though the operation isn't until tomorrow and she doesn't want to cause an argument with the Swede unnecessarily. He nods an acknowledgement and when he doesn't relax when Serena rests one of her hands over his, stilling the awkward movements, she knows it's strictly business and after a quick squeeze, she returns her hand to her lap.

Hanssen's announcement of leave the following day to her by surprise and she searches his tired expression for some kind of answer, reminding him about Dr. Lo's operation.

"That is precisely the reason – I wish to be on Darwin tomorrow without interruption."

"I see," Serena nods, pieces of the puzzle falling into place and she can't quite work out if his actions are in character or not; the man is still an enigma in many ways. Hanssen stands, not moving away from her as he does so and she is reminded again just how tall he is.

"I apologise for the short notice but I trust you have no objections?" Serena shakes her head, replying in the negative, even if she did object, she wouldn't say, tomorrow is a one-off.

"Very well." He offers her a tired smile before sweeping out of the room. Serena remains where she is for a few moments, watching Hanssen disappear behind the door and out into the corridor, wondering if he is becoming too involved in this and suddenly Serena wishes more than ever that tomorrow's operation has a positive outcome.

* * *

**AN: Tara's operation is the next chapter. It's going to be an important chapter for Hanssen and Serena. **

**Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you thought. **


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: So I mashed up the time line a bit but here we go. A somewhat soft, gentle chapter in light of some sad news. An important chapter for these two and Serena begins to get over this brief period of indecision she's found herself in; there's still a fair old bit I want to cover in this story so we're nowhere near done yet :)**

**I have lots of stuff to post – one-shots that I owe, chapters of other stories and I've got a new story which is partially written which I want to start posting too; also got a joint story in the works as well, so it's busy, busy, busy.**

**I hope to start posting something every other day until I've caught up, whether that happens remains to be seen but that's what I'm going to be aiming for.**

**Usual disclaimers apply.**

**Thank you all very much for your reviews so far. Wondering what you'll make of this chapter, was a little bit uncertain of the ending so any feedback on that would be appreciated. **

**Onwards!**

* * *

Chapter 20.

"Where the bloody hell is it?" Serena moves paper from one pile on her desk to another, searching for a report on the Trust that Terrance Cunningham had emailed to her earlier that afternoon, running her fingers through her short hair in frustration when searching a second pile of paper proves fruitless. She is about to give it up as lost and print off another copy, resigning herself to having to re-annotate the whole thing once more when the door opens and Malick steps in.

"What is it, Mr. Malick?" Serena asks without looking up as the office door shuts after the registrar. "If you've cocked up Ms. Needham's treatment plan, I don't want to know just now..." She trails off as she flicks through another pile of paper, still searching for the report, trying to delay the inevitable defeat.

When she doesn't get any kind of verbal answer, Serena looks up and notices the expression on her visitor's face and she frowns at him. She can count on one hand and still have fingers left over, the number of times she has known Malick be short of words and so she watches his struggle to express something, hands clasped behind his back with some confusion.

"Mr. Malick?" Serena prompts.

"I, err, sent Chantelle home." The Registrar begins softly and Serena finds she still doesn't understand what's going on.

"Why?"

"I know she had a couple of hours left on her shift but she was inconsolable," he answers and continues to explain, seeing that Serena is no closer to understanding than before, "she answered the phone call from Mr. Hanssen-"

"Mr. Hanssen is on leave today," Serena interrupts, "he's up on Darwin keeping..." Serena trails off as understanding dawns and a heavy weight settles in her stomach. "Dr. Lo?" Malick nods, looking away as he answers.

"There were, _complications_," he swallows. "She was pronounced brain stem dead. I thought you would want to know." By the time that Serena distractedly nods, Malick has already left the office and gone back to the ward.

Serena's thoughts turn to the F1 whom she has never worked with herself but has heard Jac Naylor refer to on several occasions, albeit somewhat unflatteringly. However, Serena always assumed that Jac Naylor actions in referring to her F1 at all suggests more about Dr. Lo's skill as a doctor than the consultant's words do themselves. Serena had suggested as much after the red-head's abrupt departure from a senior consultants' meeting a few weeks ago because of an emergency summons from the F1 in question. Even Hanssen had quietly agreed with Serena's muttered assessment as the room emptied.

Hanssen.

Serena's thoughts turn to the Swede, who is almost certainly testing his ability to maintain his composure as he informs the various wards of Dr. Lo's fate. Although it's been obvious to Serena from day one that Hanssen does care for the staff under his care, the man is often hopeless at communicating and expressing his support, demonstrating a weakness which prove the man is more human than he attempts to let on. Serena has also noticed that Hanssen seems to have an aversion to being acknowledged for any positive actions of his, preferring to dismiss it as role-related necessity, even if he has gone out of his way. Serena is yet to work out whether that is truly because the man doesn't want the recognition or whether his apparent inability to accept thanks is the product of something else.

The Swede seems to have formed an attachment to the F1 and Serena is more bothered by his response to the news than the relatives' grief; Tara's family will have each other to comfort, Hanssen will surely attempt to slink away by himself, out of habit if nothing else. She sighs; she was the one who kissed him first, who confronted him in his office but has done nothing about 'them' since. She frowns, Hanssen doesn't have anyone else and she acknowledges that it's about time Serena stood up and was counted.

Her shift finished nearly an hour and a quarter ago, it's just gone 7:15pm and Serena is only still on-site because she, along with several other colleagues no doubt, have been waiting for news on Tara Lo's operation. Serena had been aware of the risks and not as optimistic as Hanssen had been when he informed her yesterday of his last-minute decision to take leave today.

She abandons her search for the report and leaving the office in darkness, Serena goes in search of the Director of Surgery guessing that part of him will crave the comfort he won't ask for or receive from anyone; she hopes that he will accept her attempt at comforting him.

A porter bringing a patient back up to Keller from Radiology overhears Serena tell Malick that she is going to look for Hanssen and interrupts politely to inform her that he has just seen Hanssen on AAU. Serena thanks him and moves towards the lifts, still in a bit of a daze, bag in one hand, keys in the other.

"He was here but now he's gone." Serena is informed by AAU's outgoing F1, Dr. Wilde, a few moments after stepping out of the lift onto the busy ward.

"Right." Serena acknowledges the information, wondering where Hanssen would go next, when she realises that the young doctor isn't an employee of the hospital any more and she turns back to face her, wondering why she is still on site. "I thought you had resigned?"

"Yeah, I had." The woman has the grace to look pained until her expression brightens. "But there's a vacant F1 spot now and I asked Mr. Hanssen if I could have it. So here I am." She shrugs and Serena scowls in disgust at the woman's lack of sensitivity, aware of the irony before she leaves without another word.

'Despite being eight feet tall, Mr. Hanssen is hard to find when he doesn't want to be found.' Serena muses as she rules out location after location, working her way back up the hospital.

She eventually locates the Director of Surgery in his darkened office, she nearly missed the shadow against the far window and he looks around briefly when she shuts the door behind her, resuming his surveillance over his darkened hospital empire. Serena doesn't turn the light on and walks across the office which was hers several months ago, her path lit by the ambient light of the street lamps outside.

She spots his bag and coat on the top of his desk, ready for when he leaves. Serena comes to a stop next to him, her footsteps almost silent on the carpeted floor. She is close enough for their arms to touch and she brushes her fingers against his, relieved when he responds, clasping her hand in his larger one. Serena stands next to him, listening to the silence and hearing the occasional hitch in his breath; she is relieved that he hasn't pushed her away as he would have surely have done before.

Serena has no idea how long they've stood there and she wonders if she hadn't come to find him, if he would have stood there all night until the first rays of sunlight creep over the edge of Holby. She nearly asks him but holds her tongue, fearing that he would think her callous for asking. Instead, Serena rubs her thumb over the back of Hanssen's hand before unclasping it from hers.

"Time to go home." He tenses and she rubs his arms, looking up she sees Hanssen's tired face twitch before he resumes his blank countenance once more "Come home with me tonight." Serena half asks, half instructs and it's a long moment or two before Hanssen nods.

* * *

Serena cuts the ignition to her car as they pull up outside her house, the car still doesn't sound quite right and she makes a distracted mental note to get a different garage to have a look at the damn thing.

Serena had struck up a one-sided conversation as they made their way out of the hospital, she was aware that Hanssen wasn't paying any attention to what she was saying but she aware that her stream of consciousness deterred at least two people from trying to speak to the Director of Surgery. Her glare probably helped matters too. They made it out of the hospital building and over to their cars without incident and Serena unlocks hers first, telling Hanssen that she'll drive.

"You're in no fit state to drive tonight. Get in." She instructs him as gently as she can manage and he stares at her for a few moments until he nods again, opening her passenger door after retrieving a small bag from his car boot. Serena watches Hanssen capitulate and fold himself into her car with concern. She almost wants the return of the regular and difficult Hanssen, the one who would drive her mad with little more than a raised eyebrow on a deadpan face; this lacklustre and apathetic version doesn't sit well with her.

"Are you hungry?" She asks as they get out of the car. Two orange flashes in the dark night confirm that the central locking has engaged and she leads him to her front door.

There's no answer and when she turns around, it is to see Hanssen shaking his head just behind her and she fumbles a bit with her keys, finally finding the right one and unlocking the door, stepping into the familiar and welcome hallway, glad to be home.

Once the front door is closed, Serena takes Hanssen's coat and her own, hanging both up by the door, ready for the morning. The noise gets Eleanor's attention and her daughter sticks her head out from the living room, her eyes widening almost comically as she takes in the tall shadow of Hanssen behind her mother. Acting to avert disaster, Serena stops Eleanor before her daughter says something thoughtless.

"Not tonight, Eleanor." Serena tells her firmly. "Is Gabby here?" Eleanor nods and Serena responds in kind to the shouted greeting from the other room and as Eleanor heads back to her friend, Serena turns to Hanssen who is looking unsettled and uncomfortable.

"Why don't you head up; I'll come up in a minute." Then, adding as an afterthought. "First room on the left and the bathroom is straight ahead." He nods again, mute once more and Serena wishes Hanssen would say _something_ and she moves along the wooden-floored hallway, dropping her keys into the usual bowl on the side, listening to his footsteps as he heads up the stairs. Serena is in the kitchen, pouring two glasses of water when she becomes aware of Eleanor behind her.

"Why is Mr. Hanssen here?" Serena exhales softly before she answers. "What's happened, Mum?" As much as she would love to keep her daughter as far removed from the often grim reality and possibilities of her job, Serena knows she can't past a certain point.

"One of our colleagues died today." She feels Eleanor's arms wrap themselves around her torso and she is thankful for the gesture. "She was one of Mr. Hanssen's friends." She explains quietly to herself but Eleanor hears and squeezes gently before stepping back.

"Give him a hug for me, Mum."

"Don't stay up too late," Serena ignores her daughter's well-meant request and picks up the glasses of water, taking them upstairs, glad that Eleanor didn't press for details.

She had thought about pouring him a glass of something stronger than water but decided against it, she's never known Hanssen to drink anything other than tea and in her experience, alcohol and grief do not mix well in the long term. As much as she wished for a glass of something stronger than water, she wasn't about to drink it in front of the grieving man and she is loathe to resorting to using alcohol to numb emotional pain.

Turning the kitchen light off with her elbow, Serena makes her way upstairs with the two drinks, pausing briefly by the front door to toe off her boots at the bottom of the stairs and nudge them to one side; it would be just her luck to trip over them in the morning if she didn't.

Her bedroom door is ajar and she enters to find Hanssen sat on the edge of the bed, his posture slumped, something she's never seen before as he faces away from her. He is still dressed in his suit and as far as Serena can see, the only progress he's made is to remove his shoes and neatly place them at the end of the bed.

"Come on," Serena kneels down in front of Hanssen and reaches out to undo his tie. He sits completely still as she coaxes the garment out from his collar, folding it up in her hands carefully and places it on the low wooden table next to the bed.

Serena moves to his dress shirt next, managing to undo one button, briefly reminded of the scene in his office several months ago when he'd been stabbed before Hanssen bats her hands away gently.

"Don't." Serena exhales forcefully, reminding herself not to get frustrated with him.

"You can't sleep like that," she tells him, trying to keep her tone calm and she swallows her first retort when Hanssen just stares at her in response. "Alright, fine." She concedes, not in the mood to argue with him just now and she stands, ready to head to the bathroom to get changed herself; Hanssen can do what he wants but there is no way she is going to sleep in her work clothes.

"Serena."

Hanssen's rare use of her first name stops her short. In fact, Serena can't recall any occasion when Hanssen has called her anything other than 'Ms. Campbell', out loud at least. She dreads to imagine what he has called her in the privacy of his own mind and there is no way that she is telling him what she has referred to him as in return. She remains silent, masking her surprise and faces Hanssen, still sat on the edge of the bed, eyebrow raised, waiting for his elaboration.

"I didn't mean to..."

"I know." She tells him offering a small smile. "I'm just going to get changed – I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Back?"

"Well, considering that this _is_ my bedroom..." Serena lets the sentence trail off and finish itself, lips quirking at the brief stain of pink which appears just over his shirt, up his neck and Hanssen distractedly scratches the skin just above his collar. "I'll give you a few minutes to get changed – I'll be in the bathroom."

Knocking on the bathroom door, Serena steps in and finds it empty. Finding her pyjamas still hanging on the back of the door where she left them this morning after her shower, an event which seems like a lifetime ago rather than mere hours; she gets changed quickly, brushing her teeth and staring at her reflection in the mirror, wondering how to proceed and quite what Hanssen needs from her. In the morning, Serena muses, he'll probably take one look at the woman with hair sticking in all directions, in navy blue, over-sized yet surprisingly comfortable men's pyjamas that she's taken to wearing to bed and wonder what on earth he's gotten himself involved with.

Returning to her room, Serena glances over to find that Hanssen has moved from his position on the edge of the bed and has apparently changed into something to sleep in, all she can see is a plain grey t-shirt, the rest of him covered by the duvet. Turning away, she ignores him momentarily as she puts her clothing into the laundry basket to deal with later.

Heading across the room to the unoccupied side of the bed, she supposes that she should probably feel a bit self-conscious about having the enigmatic CEO and Director of Surgery see her in her pyjamas and Serena has to ignore the part of her which wants to send Hanssen to the spare room and reflexively she glances at the Swede.

"What?" Hanssen is silently observing her and Serena isn't able to discern the expression on his face.

"An interesting choice of attire, not quite-" Hanssen stops and Serena is too busy groaning silently at the man's observational skills to realise what he had said straight away.

"Not quite what you'd imagined?" She enquires in an innocent tone and Hanssen purses his lips in response. "So what _did _you imagine that I wore to bed, Mr. Hanssen?" Serena's use of his name is deliberate and she smirks as Hanssen looks away.

"It is of no consequence." He answers, in a poor attempt to deflect her curiosity.

'Like hell it isn't', thinks Serena but she takes pity of the dark-haired man as she pulls the duvet back, sliding into the bed, absolutely determined to wheedle the information out of him another time.

"I got these because they're comfortable," she capitulates, offering an explanation for her choice in sleepwear, "and they're a bit more forgiving size-wise than womens' PJs tend to be. It's not like there's been anyone to see them before now, either." Serena adds the last part in a self-deprecating tone meant more for herself than Hanssen.

"Then their loss is my gain," Hanssen informs her and Serena isn't quite sure how he manages to pull it off, considering he's sat up in her bed clad in a cotton t-shirt. Hanssen's softened expression turns sombre again and if Serena was a betting woman, she'd say that he looked almost guilty for the few minutes he'd obviously forgotten about Dr. Lo.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Although he is unlikely to react as Serena would to unwanted and unwelcome interference, Hanssen is quite likely to clam up if the approach is wrong which could be just as problematic.

"Not tonight." He shakes his head before repeating himself softly and encouraging him to lie down, Serena turns off the light, plunging the room into darkness. After a moment of fumbling, she locates his hand and mimicking their actions in his office, she entwines her fingers with his, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles and she feels him eventually begin to relax and after a little while, Serena hears his breathing deepen and even out.

* * *

**AN2: Hope you enjoyed that chapter, more to follow soon. **

**Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you thought of this chapter, I'd be indebted to hear your thoughts.**


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: That's the last time I suggest that I will try posting on a particular schedule; my internet connection doesn't like a) hot weather b) cold weather c)rain d) sunshine e) any weather f) me. Meh. I have also been doing more hours at work which has cut into my writing time as well as my reading time – I have a lot of chapters to catch up on and review and can't wait for the opportunity to sit down, relax and delve into it all.**

**Many thanks for your patience and as always, your lovely reviews. I read every single one and I know I'm awful at replying to them but your feedback is always gratefully received and most welcome.**

***insert tedious and repetitive disclaimer here* **

**One last question, where is Ric Griffin these days? Have I missed a trick or has he just not been around in recent episodes? **

**Onwards! **

* * *

Chapter 21.

Serena wakes suddenly, her sleep disturbed by something and she tenses, wondering what it was which has woken her until she hears the bathroom door close and the extractor an turn on automatically. She recognises the steps as Gabby's; the tread is confident enough to suggest a familiarity with the layout of the house but not as heavy-sounding as her daughter's footsteps tend to be.

Without opening her eyes, Serena takes a sleepy stock of her surroundings – the sound of light snoring somewhere to her right reminds her that she isn't alone in her room but the relaxed breathing suggests that Hanssen is still quite deeply asleep. In fact, at some point during the night, she and Hanssen appear to have gravitated towards one another and Serena remains still for a minute or so, cataloguing the familiar feeling and comforting warmth of another body in her bed which is something that she wasn't actively aware that she had missed.

The shrill noise of the alarm clock surprises her and Serena jerks into consciousness, she was aware of waking up at some point in the night but wasn't aware that she'd fallen asleep again. She turns over to turn it off, eyes still closed, instinctively finding the device and muting it, groaning quietly at the thought of leaving the warm and comfortable bed for the cold morning air. It's only when she is half-way out of the room that she remembers that she wasn't alone last night and she turns back to the bed.

It's empty.

Serena frowns – the side she has just vacated has the duvet thrown back but the other side is made neatly, looking completely unused. There's no sign of any of Hanssen's possessions and Serena heads out of the room and down the stairs. If it wasn't for the fact that she remembers lying on her right-hand side, watching Hanssen sleep, she wouldn't have been able to tell he'd been in the house at all. She had gladly taken the opportunity to really look at the man sleeping next to her, something she can't normally do when he is awake – the man has an uncanny ability of knowing when someone is looking at him and then staring them down until they hastily averted their gaze. His expression had been more relaxed in sleep than usual but he still looked a little troubled to her dismay and Serena knew the lines of tension will only deepen and become more pronounced as he wakes, realising where he is and why, as Dr. Lo's fate comes flooding back to him.

She pulls on her dressing gown and goes in search of Hanssen. Serena finds the errant Swede in her kitchen, fully dressed and staring, probably unseeing out of the window into the back garden, it's still too dark to make anything out.

"Good morning." She is glad to find him and she almost confesses that she'd been afraid that Hanssen had left; it hadn't occurred to her that he doesn't have his car or any method of transport.

"I didn't mean to wake you." He turns and she can see that he hasn't got his glasses on and Serena can't help but be slightly distracted by the sight.

"You didn't." Suddenly Serena is quite aware that she is still in her pyjamas as Hanssen's gaze lands on her and she attempts to resist the urge to self-consciously pull her dressing gown around her more tightly. "How long have you been up?"

"Not too long."

"Are you ok?"

"Fine, thank you."

"Right," Serena sighs, it's too early in the morning for her to attempt to coax Hanssen into talking; he looks okay, all things considered, if perhaps a tad more pensive than usual which is understandable. "Well, there are teabags or coffee in that cupboard, milk is in the fridge and help yourself to anything you want for breakfast – I'm going to jump in the shower, I won't be long." He inclines his head and Serena retreats back upstairs, wondering if Henrik Hanssen isn't a morning person.

"Or an afternoon or evening person," she mutters, turning the shower on, referring to the man's lack of social skills. "You sure know how to pick 'em." She grumbles to herself, stepping under the spray – she's gone from one extreme to the other; her ex-husband's social skills were a little _too_ developed and Hanssen's are non-existent.

By the time that Serena makes it back down to the kitchen, there is a mug of tea waiting for her but no signs that any food has been consumed. She resists the urge to comment upon it, wondering when the man ate last, he perpetually looks like he needs a square meal and Serena knows that if his path crosses with her mother's, Hanssen will be made to eat. The thought makes her smile.

"Alright," Serena drains the last of her tea and puts the mug in the sink with Hanssen's to deal with later. "Let me leave a note for Ellie and Gabby and then we can go."

Serena can see that Hanssen wants to leave, he almost radiates his unease, his gaze darting to the kitchen doorway at irregular intervals; it took her a minute or so of this behaviour before she worked out what was bothering Hanssen but Serena knows there is no chance of either teenager appearing any time soon. She scribbles a brief missive for her daughter, all too aware of Eleanor's likely eye rolling and huffing as she tells her to unpack the dishwasher.

Arriving back at the hospital to a grey morning, Serena shuts the door and locks her car, she waits for Hanssen as he opens the boot of his car to retrieve his briefcase which he'd put in there the night before and to replace his overnight bag which he'd taken to Serena's house. Task completed, he turns and Serena thinks that he seems momentarily surprised to see her still stood there but recovers quickly.

Their entrance into the hospital goes unnoticed and Serena travels with Hanssen up to the fifth floor and even if they had been spotted by a colleague, she doubts that anyone would question the possibility of a meeting before 8am, except perhaps Ric or Michael.

"I'm on Keller today," she isn't surprised when her comment doesn't get a response and sighs to herself, she doesn't expect him to suddenly open up to her but a one-word answer would be nice. This silent, slightly tortured version is quite uncomfortable to be around and she concedes defeat, electing to give him a bit of space now that the immediate aftermath is over.

"Well, I'll see you later." She retreats, hoping for some kind of verbal response without success and she doesn't look back as she leaves, resolving to check on him throughout the day.

* * *

The second time that Serena finds a reason to visit Hanssen in his office, he is sat at the table at the back of his office, working his way through a small pile of paper and he glances up briefly, returning his gaze to the document to mark his place.

"Take a seat, Ms. Campbell," he tells her in a tired voice which Serena knows he would not use in front of any other staff and another day she would offer a borderline sardonic comment on their rate of progression. It feels like it's taken several weeks and the death of a colleague just for the man to use a different tone of voice with her.

She obliges, pulling out a chair with one hand and offering him the folder in her hands with the other, which he takes, scanning it and signing in the appropriate place. She is wondering how to ask how he is without the man becoming defensive. He holds out the file and Serena goes to take it back but Hanssen doesn't release his hold on it and she looks at him in askance.

"It is not necessary to keep checking up on me, Ms. Campbell." Hanssen says, seeing through her ploy, "I am perfectly capable of working today without some form of breakdown."

"Right," Serena responds, slightly stung.

"Your concern both last night and this morning was not necessary-"

"Of course it was." Serena's answer stops Hanssen and he blinks a couple of times, expression inscrutable once more. "Of course it was," she repeats, a little concerned at Hanssen's apparent lack of belief of the importance of his own needs, a sharp contrast to the almost arrogant work persona he projects.

"If you say so. However well-intended your actions may be, I believe that a visit every ninety minutes is excessive..." Hanssen trails off, leaving Serena to finish the sentence in her head. She sighs imperceptibly, normally she would agree but today is not an everyday occurrence, thankfully.

"Anyone would think that you don't want to see me." Serena deflects, attempting humour and watching as his expression softens slightly and his mouth forms a half-smile in response.

"I assure you that couldn't be further from the truth," he informs her and Serena relishes the unexpected words from the intensely private man which have caused a feeling of warmth to spread throughout her. "Yet this work will not complete itself." He gestures to the paper piled neatly on the table.

"I suppose it's about time you did some of your own paperwork," Serena quips, sensing an opportunity to make a reference to the volume of work he regularly sends her.

"I shall not dignify that with an answer," Hanssen frowns and responds dryly although he appears to have taken the comment in the spirit it was intended. "Now that we have established that I am not on the verge of some manner of emotional breakdown, perhaps we may both return to the roles for which we are being paid?" Serena nods reluctantly, uncrossing her legs as she prepares to stand when something occurs to her.

"Actually, there is something I need to speak to you about." Hanssen doesn't say anything, merely replaces his pen lid carefully before leaning back in his chair, waiting silently for Serena to elaborate. Serena runs her fingers over her ever-present necklace distractedly, she'd thought on and off about how to broach this subject with the man in front of her as soon as she'd become aware and had been unable to formulate a plan, deciding to wing it instead.

"My Mum-"

"Is being discharged next week." Hanssen interrupts and finishes Serena's sentence. It takes her a moment to carry on, surprised that Hanssen knows about her mother's imminent departure from the hospital.

"You know?" Hanssen merely blinks at her and Serena gets the impression that it's the equivalent of Eleanor rolling her eyes and sighing. "How do you know?"

"I have something of an interest in the case." Serena rather thinks that the enigmatic answer typifies Hanssen; there are several possible interpretations and she doesn't quite know what to say. "What was it you wished to say?" He asks in a gentle tone, apparently aware that he has stalled her.

"My Mum is being discharged next week and we've decided that she's going to be living at home with me and Eleanor." She tells him, still not sure how he'll receive the news, the man's inscrutable expression giving her no clue. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Why would I mind?" Hanssen seems genuinely confused and suddenly Serena is at a loss to explain why he might object. She is under no illusions that, were she still married, her husband would have grumbled about the situation.

"I don't know, it just-" She feels slightly at a loss; she had obviously over-thought the situation and Hanssen's prior knowledge and casual acceptance has thrown her somewhat.

"I would expect nothing less from you. Is there a task you require from me with regards to your mother?"

"I don't think so," she shakes her head, "I just wanted you to know but I do reserve the right to tell you if I do think of something." Hanssen nods in response.

"See that you do, please."

Any verbal response which Serena may have had is interrupted by two smart knocks on the door of the office which then opens. Serena glances briefly at Hanssen who is frowning, obviously not expecting the visitor. She could groan when she recognises the intruder as Michael Spence and has to consciously keep a neutral expression when he looks round, finally finding them at the back of the office.

"Oh, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" The question is innocent in itself but Serena knows that Michael is aware of their relationship and so it is anything but innocent – the smirk on his face gives him away and annoyed, Serena is determined to remove it.

"Michael," she drawls, speaking before Hanssen can, fixing the most predatory smile she can muster to her face. "Just the very person I've been meaning to have a little chat with." Serena takes some gratification in the way that Michael's expression rapidly alters, suddenly looking a little uneasy.

"It's no problem, I'll come back later, 'Rena. You two look busy, carry on." Serena purses her lips at the continued use of her mother's nickname and watches through narrowed eyes as the door closes. Hanssen looks confused by the American's sudden retreat and Serena's expression and she exhales, grudgingly explaining about the nickname.

To Hanssen's credit, Serena thought, he nodded and then enquired about why Michael had bid such a hasty departure. Serena pauses for a moment, not wanting to tell Hanssen but unable to think of a plausible alternative.

"He knows." Is all that Serena says in the end, watching Hanssen carefully, spotting the moment when he understands quite what she means. "He was in the car park when I kissed you." Serena seeks to explain as she watches Hanssen's face become devoid of any expression and she curses Michael in her head; she really will be wanting a few short words with the American now.

"He saw me kiss you," Serena repeats herself, "I certainly didn't tell him and he knows better than to say _anything_ to anyone else." Hanssen takes off his glasses, looking through them up to the light before he polishes one of the lenses. Serena thinks that their closeness last night suddenly seems like a lot more than 12 hours ago.

"Who else knows, please?" Hanssen asks and if Serena didn't know better, she would have said that he sounded uninterested but she suspects he is anything but.

"Ric was with Michael." She confesses, deciding that the truth is just about the lesser of two evils. "But that's it – I haven't even told Eleanor yet." Although Serena acknowledges that her daughter isn't stupid and has probably already worked it out after last night's events but out loud she explains that Ric has to share an office with her which is why he won't say anything.

It's obvious for Serena that Hanssen is not happy at the thought that others know but she knows that the man is logical and will reluctantly accept that their colleagues found out by accident. As long as the pair of consultants keep their mouths shut, everyone can move on.

"I will not tolerate any jokes on the subject from _anyone_." Hanssen states finally, replacing his glasses and Serena is relieved although she takes care not to show her relief.

"Neither will I." She agrees immediately, pleased to see that Hanssen seems mollified. "You know, I may just pop down unannounced to AAU – it would be remiss of me to not do the odd surprise visit in my role as Executive Director of Surgery or whatever my title is now."

"Indeed," is all Hanssen can offer in response before Serena's pager cuts him off.

"Or not..." Serena groans, seeing the summons from Keller and looks to Hanssen who inclines his head.

"Right, I must dash – duty calls. See you in about 90 minutes then?" Serena quips, making a reference to the frequency of her visits to Hanssen so far today and she smiles at Hanssen's frown, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek and dashing out of the room, wondering what chaos is unfolding down on Keller, unaware of Hanssen's gaze on her as she leaves.

* * *

**AN: Just a short little chapter today, it took a couple of rethinks and re-writes, the initial chapter I had was a bit too angsty for my liking and was in danger of stalling things for a bit which I didn't want. It's about time we had some more plot and got things moving again. **

**As always would love to hear your thoughts, what you liked, what you didn't.**


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